In its hour of need, English cricket has turned to Joe Root.
Not for the first time.
Usually it’s to steady the ship after a top-order batting collapse.
This time, it’s to see the team through a brought on by its captain paying an ill-advised visit to a London nightclub.
With dropped for the second test against New Zealand for , England asked the 35-year-old Root to fill in as skipper for what will be his 165th test match 鈥� 26 more than the rest of the side combined that will be playing at The Oval starting Wednesday.
Root 鈥� Mr. Dependable 鈥� naturally obliged.
鈥淚 never thought I鈥檇 be sat here talking to you guys as England captain again. Zero chance 鈥� 0.1%,鈥� he said on Tuesday in his first news conference as 鈥榠nterim captain.鈥� 鈥淭he only thinking that came to my mind is, 鈥榃hat is the best thing for this team? Is it going to have a big effect on me and my personal life?鈥� And which outweighed the other.
鈥淭he fact is, it felt like it was the right thing to take this on, so I tried to make it as simple as that. I think I am in a very different place to when I finished (as captain).”
That was in 2022. Weighed down by leading a team that was coming off winning just one of its previous 17 test matches 鈥� England’s worst run since the 1980s 鈥� after a record 64 tests in charge and was replaced by Stokes.
His batting has gone from strength to strength since then and he is now England鈥檚 all-time leading run-scorer in test cricket, second in history behind India great Sachin Tendulkar. Root needs 48 more runs to reach 14,000 in tests and will look to improve on his showing in England’s first-test win at Lord’s, when he made only 1 and 8.
Root said he was taking his latest time as captain on a 鈥済ame-by-game basis,鈥� insisting: “Let鈥檚 not look beyond this week.鈥�
But he believes Stokes 鈥� someone he regards as a 鈥渃lose friend鈥� 鈥� still has the respect of everyone in England’s locker room despite flouting a curfew brought in in the wake of the Ashes series Down Under where off-the-field issues led to many questioning the professionalism of the England team.
鈥淗e鈥檚 been a phenomenal leader for the last four years and the way he鈥檚 captained has been brilliant,鈥� Root said of Stokes.
鈥淲e鈥檝e achieved some wonderful things as a team and won a hell of a lot of test matches. He鈥檚 a talismanic player and a great friend to a number of the guys, so of course there鈥檚 a huge amount of respect there from everyone.鈥�
Stokes back training and set to play for county Durham
The England and Wales Cricket Board said Stokes has been cleared to play for Durham against Northampton in the County Championship from Friday. Gus Atkinson, who was with Stokes on the night out and has also been dropped, also is available for Surrey鈥檚 match against Glamorgan.
鈥淏en is a competitor and he loves to play and he wants to play,鈥� Durham coach Ryan Campbell told the BBC.
鈥淗e put his hand up and said he made a mistake. From what I鈥檝e seen, he鈥檚 in good spirits, he鈥檚 back in training, working hard and the rest will take care of itself.鈥�
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