England 's crushing ten wicket loss to the West Indies in the final Test in Grenada saw them suffer yet another series defeat.
In fact, England have failed to win any of their last five Test series, losing to India, New Zealand, Australia and now the West Indies. They are also 2-1 down in their home series against India, which will be completed in the summer after the fifth Test was postponed last September due to a Covid scare within the Indian camp.
England's last win in a Test series came over a year ago in January 2021 when they beat Sri Lanka 2-0 and their current run of five series without a win is a new low. Since England played their first Test match back in 1877, they have never gone five successive series without a win if you exclude one-off Test matches.
It is a shocking new record for England and lays bare their recent struggles in Test cricket. And, with the humiliating 4-0 Ashes defeat spelling the end for head coach Chris Silverwood and managing director Ashley Giles, it has been suggested that this tour will be Joe Root 's final one as captain.
Root's mentor and former England captain Michael Vaughan described him as "frazzled" and said he needs to give up the captaincy if he has "lost even an ounce of love for doing it". He told BT Sport: "I can just see it in his face.
"I've been in that position when it goes, and he's been the captain for such a long period of time it might be starting to come to an end for him. I just feel that this could be his last Test as captain.
"I just think he's frazzled. I've seen two shots in the Test - the first innings, it was a pretty good ball, but I still think that Root at his best would get away with that and this innings it was just a tired shot.
"The biggest meeting for the director of cricket and new head coach will be with Joe Root. They'll have to ask 'do you have the energy?' because you can still be going out there but you've lost the energy to do it.
"If he's lost even an ounce of love for doing it, he has got to stop. It's not his problem that there might nor be anyone waiting in the wings."
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