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Australia captain rates young allrounder among best in the world

Alex Malcolm16-Jan-2022Australia captain Pat Cummins believes Cameron Green is the complete package and as good as any current Test allrounder in the world after his match-winning efforts in the fifth Test in Hobart.Green, 22, turned the game on the third evening with a blistering spell to spark a massive collapse after England had reached 0 for 68 chasing 271 to win.Green took three wickets in a six-over burst either side of the evening break. His extra pace forced Rory Burns to chop on to halt England’s momentum. He hit Dawid Malan flush on the helmet with 138kph/86mph bumper that rocked England’s No. 3.Malan, having already survived a couple of near chop-ons and several plays and misses, then dragged another back-of-a-length ball on to his stumps, before Green found Zak Crawley’s outside edge with some late away movement to leave England reeling. They lost 10 for 56 to lose by 146 runs and hand Australia a 4-0 series triumph.Related

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Coming on the back of his critical 74 with the bat in the first innings, Cummins was in awe of Green’s ability.”He’s just as good as any allrounder in the world at the moment I think,” Cummins said. “For someone so young, as a captain, I feel really lucky not only to draw on him as a bowler but when he’s next into bat I just feel so calm.”He showed he absolutely belongs at this level is a Test batter and then as a bowler, he’s a genuine fourth quick.”I feel like I turned to him sometimes before I turned to myself or someone else. He’s just got that bounce, he’s got the control, incredible skills, and he’s been so bowling so well, we’ve only had to bowl him 10 or 15 overs a day or an innings. Again, you forget how young he is, just seeing him at gully as well.”He is absolutely the complete package. But he’s young, so we’ve got to keep looking after him. But a bright future ahead.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Green finished the series with 273 runs at 32.57 including two half-centuries, and 13 wickets at 15.76, emphatically silencing any doubt about his place in Australia’s Test side.”He had so much leeway, not only because of his bowling but he’s scored a lot of runs in Shield cricket consistently over the last couple of years,” Cummins said.”He’s played some big innings. Internally we weren’t worried at all about how he was going. I think in himself being so young, I think he needed to grow and believe and I think you saw that last week particularly.”Cummins himself grew into the Test captaincy across the series. Any queries on how the leadership would affect his bowling were quashed as he finished the series as the leading wicket-taker on both sides despite only playing four Tests with 21 scalps at 18.04, bookended by a five-wicket haul in the first innings of the series and seven wickets in the final Test in Hobart.”That was probably my biggest worry in accepting the role as captain,” Cummins said.”I’m in the team as a bowler. I want to make sure that’s protected and I’m able to perform as well as I’d like. I think with each game I felt better at managing that. I could really switch off, take off the captain’s hat and just be a bowler for my overs.”Even little things around bowling changes, moving fields in between my overs I felt like I got better at managing that as the series went on and so that’s a hugely pleasing thing. Again, it might be difficult in the heat or longer innings, but I feel like it’s something I’m only going to get better at.”

Usman Khawaja’s 77 held Thunder together before Renegades let another winning position slip away

Tristan Lavalette19-Jan-2022Cameron Boyce became the first BBL player to claim four wickets in four balls to overshadow Usman Khawaja’s stellar return but Sydney Thunder prevailed over beleaguered Melbourne Renegades by one run to strike winning form ahead of the finals.Boyce’s spectacular 5 for 21 at the MCG were the best figures in Renegades’ history to derail Thunder who relied on Khawaja’s 77 off 51 balls. But he couldn’t be the hero of Renegades’ chase with Boyce dismissed on the final delivery needing two runs for victory.Thunder couldn’t conjure the big victory needed to overtake second-placed Sydney Sixers and will play in the Knockout on Sunday against the winner of the Eliminator between Adelaide Strikers and Hobart Hurricanes.Renegades’ season ended with five straight losses as they collected the wooden spoon for the third straight year.Related

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Red-hot Boyce creates historyRenegades’ disappointing season seemingly couldn’t end quickly enough with their wayward seamers torn apart by Khawaja and Alex Hales. Then out of nowhere, Boyce claimed Hales who holed out on the last ball of the seventh over.In his next over, Boyce had Jason Sangha stumped with a gem of a leg break then became the first Renegades player to claim a hat-trick when he dismissed Alex Ross with a dubious lbw decision. He wasn’t done yet with Boyce then creating history with a fourth straight wicket by trapping Daniel Sams in front.The mayhem continued with Matthew Gilkes almost run out first ball before he fell to a red-hot Boyce, who had the astounding figures of 5 for 7. Everything he touched turned to gold capped by running out Ben Cutting at the non-striker’s end after getting a fingertip on the ball as it hit the stumps.It’s been another season of woe for Renegades but the comeback of Boyce, who played seven T20Is for Australia from 2014-16 but has been injury prone in recent years, has provided some cheer.Khawaja stars, Thunder collapseKhawaja seamlessly transitioned from the Test to T20 arena in his first BBL match of the season. The Ashes hero was in sublime touch, especially early against Renegades’ errant seamers as he punished anything short. He also enjoyed overpitched deliveries marked by a brutal six down the ground off seamer Josh Lalor.He reunited with opening partner Hales, who dominated the four-over powerplay yielding 54 runs for Thunder. After a slow start to the season, Hales has rediscovered his belligerent best as he powered 44 off 22 balls.Perhaps they were throwing caution to the wind in a bid to overhaul Sixers’ net run rate, but Thunder were particularly sloppy against Boyce. Khawaja, however, wasn’t perturbed and should be well pleased with his preparation ahead of an expected assault during the finals.Thunder find a wayAfter Boyce’s earlier heroics, where he tossed the ball up and found grip, legspinner Tanveer Sangha had an opportunity to impress in the favourable conditions and he did exactly that with the key wicket of Shaun Marsh.With Thunder struggling to contain Aaron Finch, the pressure fell on Sangha who delivered with the wicket of Unmukt Chand in the 16th over and then Sams delivered a superb penultimate over to keep Thunder afloat.Thunder’s fielding had been sloppy throughout but they found inspiration in the final over with spectacular work from Jason Sangha leading to the run out of Sam Harper and then Sams took a blinder to dismiss Finch.After being hit for six by Will Sutherland mid over, Gurinder Sandhu held his nerve on the final delivery to ensure Thunder ended a two-match winning streak in a confidence boost.Renegades fall short againRenegades, once again, blew the chase. For the second time in less than 24 hours, they appeared in command before botching it right at the very end. The good news – for Australian cricket too – is that Finch has rediscovered his best form after an indifferent campaign as he held the innings together with 77 off 51 balls.But the bad news is that he couldn’t get them over the line in both games and Renegades simply buckled under the pressure yet again. It appeared written in the stars that Boyce’s magical performance was going to end with him hitting the winning runs but it wasn’t to be as Renegades’ tough season ended on a bitter note.

David Warner and Mitchell Marsh have been rested, while head coach Justin Langer will take time off

Andrew McGlashan25-Jan-2022Ben McDermott, the BBL Player of the Tournament, has been recalled to Australia’s T20I squad for the series against Sri Lanka next month along with Travis Head, Moises Henriques and Jhye Richardson.David Warner and Mitchell Marsh, who both starred during Australia’s T20 World Cup triumph in the UAE last year, will be rested ahead of the Pakistan tour, while head coach Justin Langer along with some other support staff will miss the five-match series, meaning assistant coach Andrew McDonald will take charge of the squad. Josh Hazlewood returns after the side injury that restricted him to just one Test during the Ashes.McDermott, who made 577 runs for Hobart Hurricanes in the BBL, and Sydney Sixers captain Henriques, were part of the squad that toured the West Indies and Bangladesh last year before missing selection for the World Cup.Related

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• Hazlewood set to return to action in Sri Lanka T20I series

• ESPNcricinfo's BBL team of the season

Head, who was Player of the Series in the Ashes, is in line for his first T20I appearance since 2018, having previously played 16 times in the format where he made his international debut in 2016.”He hasn’t played a great deal of white-ball cricket,” national selector George Bailey said. “It’s one of those conundrums which faces a number of players that when they do get a bit of a run in in one format, be that domestically or for the national side, it quite often comes at the expense of another format. But Trav’s a very talented cricket across all three formats. I think we’re seeing him come into the best years of his life, hopefully, in terms of the way he plays his cricket.”We saw the way that he played and the tempo that he played his Test cricket. His domestic one-day record over the past couple of years has been phenomenal. The one part of his game that he probably hasn’t had the continuity or the time to focus on his been his T20 cricket. But if you go back through his history there’s a skillset there that that lends itself to that format.”Richardson is included in a T20I squad for the first time since the tour of New Zealand last February. He featured in one Ashes Test, taking a five-wicket haul in Adelaide, before picking up a lower leg injury. He was later confirmed that he would not be considered for the Pakistan tour as his workloads are carefully managed.The remainder of the bowling attack is made up of first-choice names, with Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, the latter has opted out of the IPL auction, both included alongside white-ball specialists Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa. Bailey indicated that the fast bowlers would be unlikely to play all the matches although the postponement of the New Zealand series has reduced the demands a little.With the defence of their World Cup title just nine months away it is unlikely there will be significant turnover in the squad but Bailey wants to ensure there is depth available for all positions.”There’s not going to be a huge amount of change I wouldn’t have envisaged over the next 12 months in the lead up to this year’s World Cup. But what we are after are really specific replacements and opportunities for guys should the need arise to use them in the lead up to October.”Legspinner Mitchell Swepson is the only other member of the 15-player T20 World Cup squad not included for this series. Dan Christian, Nathan Ellis and Daniel Sams were travelling reserves for the tournament. Ellis has missed the second half of the BBL through injury.Squad: Aaron Finch (capt), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Josh Inglis, Ben McDermott, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa

She believes batters not taking bold, positive options cost them

Vishal Dikshit20-Mar-2022A strong 12-18 months in the lead up to the 2022 World Cup on their home soil has somehow culminated in New Zealand being the first top side being all but knocked out of the tournament. Amy Satterthwaite, one of the experienced players in the team who stood in for the injured Sophie Devine when they nearly defended 203 against England in another thriller in Auckland on Sunday, admitted that their batting had let them down in this campaign as it lacked a “killer instinct”.’New Zealand had put up totals of over 250 each time they batted against India in their recent bilateral series before the World Cup – and scored a whopping 191 in the rain-reduced 20-over fourth ODI – but they could not step up once the big tournament arrived.It started when they failed to score six off the last over against West Indies in the tournament opener, and then didn’t last the full 50 overs against Australia, South Africa and England to score just 128, 228 and 203 respectively. This means they are now all but out of the semi-finals race.”The frustrating part is, I felt like we turned a corner against India in the series before the tournament as a group and we started to put some consistent totals on the board, around 260-270 and everyone was playing their roles superbly,” Satterthwaite said after the loss to England on Sunday. “And obviously some things did not go our way. Today we felt like Sophie’s injury [hampered them], we lost Lauren Down coming into this tournament, but I still backed the people that were in this line-up to produce bigger scores than what we have been.”If I compare from the India series to this campaign, it’s the partnerships. Against India we talked a lot about producing big partnerships: 100-run and match-winning partnerships, and if we look back across our World Cup games, I don’t know the numbers on top of my head, but there can’t be too many 80-90-100-plus partnerships. We probably got started and didn’t really have that kind of killer instinct, and like I said, take it to those big partnerships that would have put us in a really strong position to allow our middle to lower order to really launch.”That was something we did really well against India and our run in the last 12 months has been huge for this group. If we looked 12 months ago with our batting performances, like I said, we’ve made a lot of progress, the way we’ve played spin, the way we’ve been proactive using our feet [while batting], sweeping…That was really pleasing and probably at times throughout this campaign we let the bowlers bowl to us just a little bit and rather than taking the brave, positive option which we did really well against India. Unfortunately, in tournaments like this, you can’t sit back too much otherwise you’ll get found out.”We’ll reflect on the tournament at some point and if we’re honest, batting is the thing that let us down the most and with the ball really tried to keep us in the tournament and we fought extremely hard and we can be really proud of that. But putting up scores of 200-220-odd against world class opposition unfortunately is not enough and we needed to find a way to get bigger totals on the board.”Sophie Devine’s back injury didn’t help matters for New Zealand•Getty Images

New Zealand, who won the ODI World Cup on home soil back in 2000, did get unlucky as well on Sunday when two of their top players – Devine and Lea Tahuhu – picked up injuries against England. Devine had to retire hurt with back issues when she was on 37 and New Zealand were in a strong position of 67 for 1. But by the time she returned to bat, her side had lost all the momentum and was hobbling on 155 for 6 in the 39th over. Devine added just four more to the score that stopped at 203 when they were bowled out and didn’t field at all while Satterthwaite led the side in the chase.Tahuhu, on the other hand, hurt her left hamstring while bowling her fifth over in the middle of a stifling spell, having dismissed Tammy Beaumont with an offcutter in the 10th over. Tahuhu couldn’t return to the field after that which meant New Zealand were short of two of their experienced bowling options.”In the moment you try and put them on to one side and focus on what you’ve to do that’s in front of you,” Satterthwaite said about dealing with the two injured team-mates. “When you finish the game and look back, they were pretty pivotal moments in a way.”Sophie’s injury at the time, she was looking outstanding with the bat and seemed to have it between her teeth and was looking to take the opposition on and the momentum that her and Amelia Kerr were building was really nice and we were at a great position. Unfortunately, it’s never nice to see someone injured of that caliber, especially, it came at not a great time for us. At the same time, I would have backed our line-up to put a performance on the park and produce a bigger total than we did.”New Zealand will also rue how they could not close out the games they could have when they came close against West Indies, South Africa and England. They fell short of their 260 target against West Indies by just four runs, they went down to South Africa in the last over by two wickets while defending 228, and against England they were just one wicket away from staying alive in the tournament properly.”It’s never a nice position to be in when you’re relying on other results,” Satterthwaite said of their bleak semi-final chances. “Coming into today, we felt like we still had it in our control and it’s pretty gut-wrenching to get that close and not get over the line. It’s like you’re standing on the edge of a cliff, almost out of the competition. You always hope that you can be on the other side of those results and the biggest thing for me is just proud of how the group stuck at it in each game.”It’s a funny thing about World Cups as there can always be some interesting results on the day and teams have shown how close the women’s game is getting now. The likes of South Africa for me have been a team that I thought could be near the top of the world for a while now. They’ve got a really well-rounded side.”West Indies on their day are extremely dangerous. We know the quality that England are, so you know you have to get a lot of things right when you are playing them and unfortunately for us, we’ve probably got 80% right at times against those teams and that 20% has really hurt us. Like I said earlier, really proud of the way that we’ve fought throughout those games and tried to stay in it.”

Uncapped Indian seamer Kuldeep Sen went toe-to-toe with Marcus Stoinis and defended 14 in the final over

Sidharth Monga10-Apr-20223:30

Brathwaite: Hetmyer showed his versatility and flexibility

Having lost their fourth toss in four matches, Rajasthan Royals found a way to defend successfully for the third time in a highly tactical game. Royals promoted R Ashwin to No. 6 in the 10th over only for him to declare himself out in the 19th over to allow Riyan Parag hitting time in the middle. Lucknow Super Giants were not to be left behind: they promoted K Gowtham and Jason Holder as two wickets fell in the first over to make sure their main batters were not exposed to Trent Boult’s swing.A measure of how difficult it is to defend is that despite Shimron Hetmyer’s assault towards the end of the first innings – he scored 38 off the last 15 balls he faced – despite Boult’s swing at the start to get KL Rahul first ball, despite Ashwin’s four overs for 20 runs, despite Yuzvendra Chahal’s two overs in the last five to take four wickets, it came down to IPL debutant Kuldeep Sen having to defend 14 in the last over.Related

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Unlike the India international Prasidh Krishna, who attempted yorkers in the 19th and conceded 19 to Marcus Stoinis – incidentally held back for just this role – Sen bowled length and wide outside off to bowl three dots to make it 14 needed off two. The four and six off the final two balls didn’t matter.Quick start for RoyalsRoyals are by now used to the difficult task of batting first, and accordingly their openers came out firing. Jos Buttler got stuck into Holder, and Devdutt Padikkal, replacing Yashaswi Jaiswal at the top of the order, cut Ravi Bishnoi for two boundaries in the fourth over to make it 39 for 0.Chameera, Avesh pull Royals backDushamntha Chameera then returned to bowl a three-run fifth over. Buttler felt obliged to go after the sixth over, but Avesh Khan was spot on with the first ball, finding the stumps. An almighty slowdown ensued even with Sanju Samson batting with all his intent. Overs five to 15 produced only four boundaries; the 11 overs went for just 53.Four wickets fell, too. Samson missed a slower full toss from Holder, and a frustrated Padikkal fell to a reverse-sweep off Gowtham for a run-a-ball 29. When Gowtham turned the ball against the round-the-wicket angle to bowl Rassie van der Dussen, it was apparent this was not an easy pitch. That’s when Royals sent Ashwin out.Ashwin breaks the shacklesAshwin has batted in the top six previously in the IPL but typically in low-scoring games to stabilise tricky chases. This was the first time he was batting in the top six when setting a target. He was 9 off 14 at the start of the 16th over when he decided his job had been done. He began to hit out now, and sent Gowtham for successive sixes, only the third time he has hit more than one in an IPL innings.Hetmyer flourishes amid chaosAfter a boundary-less 17th over by Avesh, Hetmyer found the freedom against Holder, hitting the 18th over for two sixes and a four. Two balls into the 19th, Hetmyer was left stunned at the sight of Ashwin walking off and Parag walking in. That didn’t stop Hetmyer from hitting the next two balls for sixes – an upper-cut and a slog over midwicket. Holder tried yorkers in the last over, and Hetmyer and Parag hit a six each to give Royals just the finishing kick they needed.Boult swings, LSG go funkyBoult has bowled the first ball of an innings 79 times. Only twice has he gone round the wicket, both times to Rahul. Boult said it was James Neesham’s suggestion at breakfast. Samson was told of the plan seconds before the start of the chase. Boult bowled it full, and got it to seam in. Rahul said he didn’t see it or he would have put some bat on it. It went past the inside edge, and bowled him.Now this can’t be a response to a first-ball wicket. LSG always wanted to go funky should they lose an early wicket because they wanted Stoinis to bat after the 15th. First came Gowtham. Boult went over the wicket to swing the ball back in and trap him dead in front. Then came Holder. With the ball moving around, the dots piled, and Holder fell trying to force Krishna’s hard lengths. Super Giants were 14 for 3 in the fourth over.Spinners take overIf the plan was to be disruptive and aggressive with low-cost wickets, the Royals bowlers had now forced Super Giants to play old-fashioned cricket. Quinton de Kock – a poor match-up against both the spinners – and Deepak Hooda had to rebuild the innings. Just after the timeout at 52 for 3 in nine overs, Hooda tried to hit out, and Sen hit his wicket, much like Avesh did with Buttler earlier. When Chahal got rid of Ayush Badoni at the end of the 12th over, Super Giants promoted Krunal Pandya even if it meant having two left-hand batters in the middle. Samson, too, kept holding Chahal back for Stoinis.Chahal delivers big blowsSuper Giants kept holding back till the 15th over after which they needed 69 runs. With two Chahal overs in the bank, Samson also didn’t need to wait for Stoinis to arrive. In the 16th, Chahal dismissed both de Kock and Pandya. Soon, de Kock, who struggled for fluency throughout, found long-on with a vertical pull, and Pandya was defeated on the sweep.In the 18th, Chahal got rid of Dushmantha Chameera too, but Avesh hit a six off the last ball of Chahal’s spell to keep Super Giants in the hunt. Just about.The endgameWith 34 needed off two overs, Royals predictably went to the senior bowler first to hopefully leave the youngster some cushion. Krishna, who has become a bit of a hard-lengths specialist for India, stuck with yorkers. Apart from a ramp for four, Stoinis’ other two sixes in the over came off missed yorkers. It was a little surprising that he would abandon his favoured length for yorkers, especially with a wet ball.Sen’s lengths in the final over were in the slot, but he stayed wide of Stoinis’ reach. Stoinis tried one ramp and two hits down the ground, but couldn’t find the boundary.

Titans, who are assured of top spot on the league table, will look to fine-tune their combination ahead of the playoffs

Hemant Brar18-May-20222:05

Should RCB play with an eye on NRR?

Big picture

The equation for Royal Challengers Bangalore is simple. Win against Gujarat Titans on Thursday and hope Delhi Capitals lose to Mumbai Indians on Saturday. That’s the only way they can make it to the playoffs of IPL 2022.The task may not be as simple, though. Titans are currently at the top of the points table with ten wins from 13 games. To beat them, Royal Challengers may need one of their big three – Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell – to play a big innings. They will also hope for Josh Hazlewood to come back strongly after registering figures of 4-0-64-0 against Punjab Kings in their previous game.

Watch live in the USA

You can watch the match on ESPN+ here.

Titans, meanwhile, are already assured of a top-of-the-table finish in the league stage. They had a bit of a wobble with back-to-back defeats at the start of the month, but with Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha giving them strong starts and Hardik Pandya resuming bowling duties, they have notched up back-to-back wins since.Can they further fine-tune their line-up before the playoffs? Yash Dayal has picked up nine wickets from six games but has conceded 9.38 runs per over. Titans could consider replacing him with Pradeep Sangwan, who played three games when Dayal was out with a niggle and picked up three wickets while maintaining an economy rate of 7.22. They also have the option of bringing back Lockie Ferguson for Alzarri Joseph.

Likely XIs

Gujarat Titans: 1 Shubman Gill, 2 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 3 Matthew Wade, 4 Hardik Pandya (capt), 5 David Miller, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 R Sai Kishore, 9 Lockie Ferguson/Alzarri Joseph, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Pradeep Sangwan/Yash DayalRoyal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Faf du Plessis (capt), 3 Rajat Patidar, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Mahipal Lomror, 6 Shahbaz Ahmed, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Wanindu Hasaranga, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Josh HazlewoodHardik Pandya could hold back an over or two of Rashid Khan for Dinesh Karthik•BCCI

Strategy punts

• Titans could save an over or two of Rashid Khan for Dinesh Karthik. Karthik has helped Royal Challengers finish their innings strongly throughout the tournament but Rashid has dismissed him three times in 28 balls across all T20s while conceding only 30 runs.
• Royal Challengers might want to bowl Mohammed Siraj mostly through the middle overs. Siraj has an economy rate of 9.80 in the powerplay this season. At the death, it’s 14.75. But he has been one of the most economical bowlers in the middle overs, going for only 6.27 runs per over. Royal Challengers could use him more in that phase, in much the same way Sunrisers Hyderabad do with Umran Malik.

Related

• Scenarios: All eyes on Capitals and RCB with one round of fixtures remaining

Stats that matter

• Titans have hit the fewest sixes (59) in the tournament but the most fours (210).
• Saha has a strike rate of 138.40 in the powerplay this season. In the middle overs, it drops down to 97.53.
• Dayal has the worst economy rate (10.70) in the powerplay among bowlers who have bowled at least eight overs in that phase in IPL 2022. The second-worst is Joseph at 10.25. Siraj is third on that list.
• Mohammed Shami has dismissed Kohli five times in 60 balls while giving away 80 runs.
• Rahul Tewatia has smashed Harshal Patel for 40 runs off 21 balls without getting out.
• Among batters who have faced at least 50 balls against spin this season, Maxwell has the highest strike rate (200.00).

England’s match-winner opens up on strains of leadership after return to the ranks

Andrew Miller05-Jun-2022The emotion was plain for Joe Root as he soaked up the acclaim from an enraptured Lord’s crowd. A phenomenally composed 115 not out, his 26th Test hundred but his first in the fourth innings, had guided England to a gripping five-wicket win over New Zealand in the first Test of the English summer, and ended a barren run of results that stretched back 10 months to the Headingley Test against India.But perhaps more significantly, it was a century in Root’s first appearance back in England’s ranks, after stepping down from a role that he had held with pride for five years and a national-record 64 matches, but which he admitted after the match had become an “unhealthy relationship” in its grim final throes.England won just one of their last 17 Tests under Root’s leadership, including a 4-0 defeat in the Ashes and a further 1-0 reverse in the Caribbean in March. And though he insisted in the immediate aftermath of that campaign that he still had the drive to take the team forward, Root conceded upon his return to the UK that the pressures had become too much to bear.”It had become a very unhealthy relationship to be honest, the captaincy and me,” Root admitted after his innings on Sunday. “It started to really take a bad toll on my own personal health. I couldn’t leave it at the ground any more, it was coming home. It wasn’t fair on my family, on people close to me, and it wasn’t fair on myself either.Related

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“I had thrown everything at it and I was determined to help turn this team around but I realised over that time at home that it would have to be in a different way. I’m very excited to do that now and to do everything I can to help Ben [Stokes] really turn this team around and make this team the force it should and can be.”There was little about Root’s form with the bat in the latter months of his captaincy that let on about the mental toll the role was taking – quite the contrary in fact. He amassed an England-record 1,708 runs at 61.00 in 2021, just 80 runs shy of Mohammad Yousuf’s all-time record, and though he endured a dip in form towards the end of the Ashes, his back-to-back hundreds in Antigua and Barbados earlier this year seemed to have signalled his determination to keep leading from the front.Privately, however, Root acknowledged he was feeling the strain of propping up an under-performing team, and while taking a break from cricket at the end of the Caribbean tour, he announced it was time to step down.”I obviously tried as much as I could, but I think I was unaware of how much it was grabbing hold of me,” he admitted. “I just needed to make the decision, and I knew it was the right thing to do. I felt like a big weight had been lifted and I immediately felt a lot better.”As hard as it was, obviously it’s been a huge privilege and something that I’m extremely proud to have done, but it’s time for a new phase in my career. And it’s one that I’m very much looking forward to, seeing one of my best mates now take this team forward and start in a way that he has.”Stokes himself played a big part in securing victory in his first outing as official captain, scoring a chancy but vital 54 to help break the back of a 277-run chase on the third afternoon. But, once he fell to Kyle Jamieson with 118 runs still needed, Root stepped up his own tempo to score his final 81 runs from 81 balls, and ease England home in company with Ben Foakes.”This is a very nice feeling,” Root said in the aftermath of England’s win. “It’s felt like a long time. But it’s one that you want to feel over and over again. So, again, having experienced that this week, it’s one that we want to make sure that, when we turn up to Trent Bridge, we’re on the right side of it again, and can feel it again.”