On Friday, Joe Root resigned as England captain and this was one of the better recent days for the England and Wales Cricket Board. It was, at least, one clarification in a fog of uncertainty. There is no chairman at the ECB, no cricket director (though the expectation is that Rob Key will be appointed after the Easter bank holiday), no coach and now no Test captain. Not much room for complacency here. England have not been so rudderless since 1988, the summer of four Test captains.
The assumption is that Root jumped rather than being pushed since there is no one around at the ECB to push him. Key, as a Sky pundit, has been critical of his captaincy but I doubt that was decisive. Root has had time since the Caribbean tour to think and sit down with his nearest and dearest and he has reached a logical conclusion.
I’m happy to join the chorus about Root: that despite limitations he has been a captain utterly devoted to the job, to the game and to his players and that he should be applauded for his time in charge.
England have had many worse captains. But there is no divine right to remain in charge. It was time for a change; in fact change was overdue but, after the Ashes, the paucity of options dictated that Root should continue in the Caribbean. For his own sake and that of the team it is time to try someone else.
He should depart with his head held high. To general relief but no surprise he has reaffirmed his dedication to playing Test cricket. When the gulf between England’s best player (Root) and the rest has never been greater, they desperately need his runs. His departure spares Key, if he is to be the new director, a tricky conversation.
Key’s probable appointment has raised a few eyebrows. One oddity is that the list of those who have declared they are not interested in the job seems much longer that those fancying the position, which does not reflect well on the ECB. To be employed by England is no longer regarded as a plum posting; it is far more desirable to get an IPL gig for eight weeks or even a jolly month in charge of one of the Hundred teams. The same might apply to the position of head coach, to which Key has presumably already given much thought.
If Key is appointed in the week ahead he may be the beneficiary of the paucity of candidates, but he has obvious attributes. He is an independent, coherent thinker, unafraid to challenge some of the accepted orthodoxies. Moreover, he is prepared to pop his head above the parapet.
The pattern in England is that the heavyweights (I’m the rule-proving exception here) head to the commentary box for a much cosier life, pontificating without responsibility. For example, the media commitments of Mike Atherton, Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan, all well-qualified to plot the path ahead, debar them from having significant positions within English cricket.
It is easier to pin down the candidates to be the next England captain than the next coach. England’s best coaches – Duncan Fletcher, Andy Flower and Trevor Bayliss – have come from overseas but increasingly the big names are drawn to India. Key might have to be at his most persuasive to net one of them. However, it is almost unprecedented for anyone to turn down the England captaincy.
When contemplating his choice Key must surely avoid looking too far ahead. It is lovely to announce “a five-year plan”, which is often just a cunning ruse to explain away the latest debacle and as meaningless as a “red-ball reset”, but the goal must be to get through the 2022 season without too many calamities rather than planning for 2024.
In consultation with the new coach, the ECB may have to go for a stopgap captain to take charge for the first four Tests of the summer (three against New Zealand, one against India) before reassessing. Sometimes, the stopgap can surprise, the best example being Ray Illingworth in 1969. He was drafted in as the perfect dispensable leader after Colin Cowdrey’s achilles tendon had snapped: he was 37 and had been no more than a sporadic England player; he could hold the fort until Cowdrey’s return. Illingworth ended up doing the job for four years and winning the Ashes in Australia. An enforced change can pay dividends.
It is highly unlikely England will pluck someone from the county circuit. The new captain will surely be familiar with the international setup. There are three serious candidates, all with shortcomings. The frontrunner is Ben Stokes. Does he want the job? I doubt he could turn it down. But should we consider the experiences of the charismatic cricketers of the past when appointed captain, such as Ian Botham, Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen? Yes, we should, which enhances the idea of a short- term appointment. The England captaincy does not have to be a four-year presidential term.
Stuart Broad was the captain of two unsuccessful T20 World Cup campaigns, in 2012 and 2014, but that should not be held against him. At 35, he might struggle to be ever-present, which should not debar him either. The third option, Jos Buttler, was also absent in the Caribbean. He was legitimately dropped after the Ashes but he has a sharp brain, the experience of 57 Tests, the respect of Root and Stokes, and a Test batting average higher than that of Rory Burns.
So the pundits can speculate gleefully while Key becomes increasingly aware that there are no perfect solutions.
