Paul Collingwood has been 'amazed' at the criticism levelled at No 1 leader Joe Root who he has backed to turn the England Test team round.
As interim head coach, Collingwood has worked closely alongside Root for the first time on the tour of the West Indies and despite the 1-0 reverse, couldn’t have been more impressed with the skipper.
And even though several former England captains have lined up to call for Root to stand down on the back of a shocking set of results, Collingwood insists there is more to Root’s reign than just wins and losses and the dressing room is responding to his leadership.
"Sometimes it amazes me that he gets questioned," said Collingwood. "Because of how it feels within the dressing room. You can see the passion, the drive. There’s a real hunger to get it right. These aren’t just words coming out of his mouth, he’s desperate to get the team back to winning games of cricket.
"I can’t say anything but positivity in terms of what he’s done leadership wise in the dressing room, trying to move this team forward. I can see why there is noise, because we are not winning games of cricket. When you have that kind of record, I can understand where the noise comes from.
"But you have to understand how it feels in the dressing room and how strong a leader he is. “We’re in the results industry so people are going to be criticising us all because we’re not winning, but he has the full backing from all the players and the management as well and I truly believe that he is still very much our No.1 to take this team forward.”
And Collingwood has pointed to the way in which Root has fostered a more collaborative dressing room, allowing more players to have their voices heard, as evidence of how the group has changed and how other leaders may well emerge in the future.
"We are trying to grow these boys into leaders," he added. "We are giving them a voice now, and giving them extra responsibility in the changing room. There’s a lot of knowledge in that changing room that sometimes doesn’t come out so I’ve been really enthused by guys speaking up. There will be options there in the future."
