Joe Root calls time on his England Test cricket captaincy

One undoubted plus to Root’s resignation is he can now concentrate on batting

Joe Root celebrates scoring a century for England
Joe Root celebrates scoring a century for England
(Image credit: David Gray/AFP via Getty Images)

The timing may have been a shock, coming as it did “early on Good Friday”, said Mike Atherton in The Times. But there was nothing surprising about the decision itself. The utter woefulness of England’s recent performances – they’ve lost 11 of their last 17 Test matches – has finally forced Joe Root to acknowledge what most people have known for a while: that his time was up as England captain.

Root has been in the job for five years, making him England’s longest-serving captain, said Ali Martin in The Guardian. And he leaves it with a curiously mixed record: he is the captain with the most Test victories (27), but also the most defeats (26). Some of his achievements have been highly impressive, notably the series wins in South Africa and India, and he has been an “unimpeachable ambassador for the English game”, but he never realised his ultimate ambition of “being an Ashes-winning captain”.

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