Originally Posted by
SlockyNCFC
In addition to all the other problems mentioned here, I think this has to be Joe Root's last series as Test captain. Captaincy matters more in the longer format of the game and is by all accounts a very difficult job, more so than in many other team sports. Unfortunately his captaincy has mostly hindered rather than helped England. It certainly has so far in Australia, where any England team hoping to win needs to get everything right.
He has occasionally managed to look adequate when things have gone well but he's consistently been worse than useless when the team is up against it. His bowling and fielding tactics are woeful, he behaves more like a mate of the senior players than a leader of them, and his head visibly drops along with everyone else's when things go wrong, just when you need a leader to demand you keep going.
He also gets far too caught up in the emotions of the game when an objective cool head is needed, a weakness particularly exposed when England's horrible short pitched bowling let India's tailenders bat them back into the game at Lords earlier this year. All of these shortcomings have been as present throughout his captaincy as they have during this Ashes series so far.
It goes without saying that Root should remain in the team as a batsman and be allowed to focus on what he's good at - batting, with occasional cameos as a spinner. There is a big question about who would replace him, a factor I think is not unrelated to having had as long as he has had. I'd make Ben Stokes captain.