What England can expect from captain Root

August 17, 2026 No Comments

What England can expect from captain RootImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Joe Root’s first Test as captain was against South Africa at Lord’s in 2017, a match in which he scored 190 in a convincing England winByMarc HigginsonBBC Sport Senior JournalistPublished12 minutes agoWhen England line up against Pakistan at Headingley this week they will once again be led by Joe Root.The Yorkshireman is captaining England for the 66th time in Test cricket – a national record, though still way short of the 109 matches in which Graeme Smith led South Africa.England’s greatest batter has taken over from Ben Stokes, who resigned following the series against New Zealand earlier this summer.But what can we glean from Root’s previous spell in charge, and what should we expect from his second permanent spell in arguably English cricket’s most prestigious position?What is Root’s record like?Root has won more matches as Test captain than anyone else in England’s history, though some will point to his longevity.If we look solely at win percentage, of those who have captained England in more than 30 Tests, Root – who has the same number of wins to his name as losses – is sixth on the list behind Mike Brearley, Stokes, Michael Vaughan, Peter May and Andrew Strauss.That average is negatively affected by just one win in his last 17 Tests, though. In his first 47 Tests, Root actually had a better record than Stokes.If we look at matches against modern-day heavyweights Australia and India, Root plummets down the list even further – down in 10th, with twice as many losses as wins.Root has captained England to victory in 29% of his Tests in charge against Australia and India, behind the likes of Stokes (35%), Sir Alastair Cook (38%) and the best of all, Brearley (57%).Brearley, who captained England between 1977 and 1981, actually has the best captaincy record of anybody against Australia and India – just ahead of West Indies’ legendary leader Sir Clive Lloyd, who won 22 of his 42 matches in charge.England batter Cox leaning on advice from Kohli

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What does a Root team look like with the bat?

After a rollercoaster four years under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, could England revert to a more conservative style of play under Root?

Of all England’s Test captains since 2006, only teams led by Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen have lower run-rates and played fewer attacking shots.

In Root’s 65 Tests in charge, England’s run-rate has been 3.16, with the team playing an attacking shot 23% of the time. Under Stokes, England’s run-rate was 4.40 and they played an attacking shot 42% of the time.

But does that mean Root’s teams are more likely to score bigger since their risk is lower?

Quite the opposite in fact – the average number of runs scored for the loss of one wicket is 29 under Root and was 34 when Stokes was in charge. Under Strauss, when England rose to number one in the world rankings, England averaged 40 runs per wicket.

England lose a wicket, on average, every 54.9 balls under Root. That is better than the 46.3 balls it took to dislodge somebody under Stokes but far behind the 69.5 balls Strauss’ side soaked up.

There are obvious caveats with the data – for example, Dom Sibley, with a strike-rate of 34.48 played 21 Tests under Root.

Another quirk of the numbers is that Root actually had the best strike-rate of all batters during his time in charge – a strike-rate that swelled even higher under Stokes, showing how England’s greatest batter can go up and down the gears.

And might the lessons of the last four years influence Root’s captaincy second time around?

In his first interview after being named captain, Root reported: “The last four years have been the most fun I’ve had in professional cricket and a big part of that was down to the way they [McCullum and Stokes] got me to see the game.

“I’ve taken a lot from that and I feel it will be a big part of how I want to approach things moving forward as a leader of this team.

“The thing that stands out the most for me is the shift in mindset that was created around how we want to play the game – trying to strip the fear away from things, make sure guys feel that they can really just allow their talent to come out as frequently as possible and in big moments in games.”

And, as others have pointed out, Root should not have to worry about a focus on the one-day team and leading a team during a global pandemic this time around.

How does Root captain in the field?

It’s in the field where Root’s captaincy may be under-rated.

In his time in charge, only Ollie Pope-led teams had a better dismissal rate than Root’s teams, who averaged a wicket every 50 balls.

Root, a part-time spin bowler himself, will not be able to call on the likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes or even Stokes this time around though.

His deployment of pace and spin is interesting – only Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff used pace bowlers more in home Tests since 2005 with his reliance on spin bowling at home dropping quite noticeably in his final two years in charge – down from 24% of balls bowled by spin in home Tests in 2017 to 14% in 2021.

In terms of fielding performance by the team, it is hard to quantify other than via the percentage of dropped catches – though Stokes’ teams famously hunted down even lost causes to the boundary.

So it is perhaps no surprise that since 2013, Stokes’ teams have best catch success rate (80%), ahead of Cook (78%), Root (76%) and Pope (74%).

How will captaincy affect Root’s batting?

It’s highly unlikely England will see a drop in run-scoring standards from Root, who averages almost 47 in charge.

That is slightly down on his average of 53 when not in charge, though that has increased in recent years as Root revelled in Stokes’ leadership – he averages 54 since stepping down the first time.

Even in his penultimate Test in charge, when it was becoming clear the job was taking its toll on Root the person, he still managed to score 153 against West Indies in Barbados.

Root, of course, is hunting down Sachin Tendulkar’s Test record of 15,921 runs and, going into the Pakistan series, is just 1,807 runs shy of becoming the best run-getter of all time.

With three matches against Pakistan to come this summer, plus winter tours to South Africa and Bangladesh, could Root put himself into a position to reach the record during next summer’s Ashes?

Becoming Test cricket’s run-scoring GOAT and lifting the urn on home soil… it wouldn’t get much better for the shy lad from Sheffield.

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