by sussexpob » Mon Jan 17, 2022 1:33 pm
Root starts attacking the county game as the reason for all the problems, while his allies in the press like Agnew follow suit. Agnew has some gall; after predicting a 2-2 draw, he's now lecturing us on why only an idiot would have assumed the series would have gone differently when cricket is so fundamentally flawed. Meanwhile Root is being backed by everyone.
Root himself told us before a ball was bowled that this was his Alamo; a series to define his captaincy. We got battered, and now we are to believe actually that this series had nothing to do with defining his ability to do his job. Work that one out? It says a lot in the defence of Root that no one can really find many valid reasons to defend him. Ramprakash, who worked with him for years in a coaching role and opinioned he is the right man for the job, can only pony up some vague nonsense about Root being a nice guy, even though tactically Ramps thinks he is not up to the task. To condense other opinions about the topic into a vague overview gives us much the same; Root cant captain himself out a paper bag, but hes a cheeky chap with a sense of humour, he is popular, so that is a good thing.
I guess you dont need to look far to see whats wrong there. Being a nice guy is not an asset for a leader. When I think of great sporting coaches or captains, the uniting theme that brings them together is the ability to be ruthless, in some cases downright hostile and nasty, and constantly demanding higher standards from those they work with. I listen to Roy Keane for instance talk about leading United all those years, and he opinions that the "bonding element" was wanting to win, not being friends. If you didnt show you wanted to win, he'd pin you against a wall.... success followed.
Root says he needs to "maybe" (MAYBE??) be a bit harder. After so many years, if he is only just coming to this realisation, I guess he is a lost cause. The fact is, if he isnt reading the riot act at people; given a chance to dump on England's terrible batting, he instead went after the bowlers for not sticking to the plan .... in a series England didnt make 300 in 10 innings. I wonder how that affected his dressing room popularity? AS Harminson said, if I was a bowler Id have been waiting for him at the top of the stairs and have probably given him a slap. But this is England 2022; the captain is only dumping away from this own doorstep.
And there we find the major problem. Root drones on after every test we play that England know what mistakes to correct, and work towards improving them; but then whenever anything he, Silverwood or anyone in the leadership get a chance to add meat to the bones, it sounds like they very much either dont know which problems to correct, or they are totally inadequately skilled to actually remedy them.
I mean take after the second test - Hameed and Burns were sent in the nets to practice, and were asked to hop on one leg and hold a bat in one hand while they were bowled to - this was the answer apparently. Some zaney, idiotic idea - sorry, but every coach or any captain that sat back and watched that unfold needs firing. A total madcap, nonsensical load of rubbish. Hameed responded by lasting a minute, out for a duck.... turns out batting while jumping like a kangaroo doesnt prepare you for test quality bowling.
And thats another thing about Root I cant tolerate during this series - he lays into problems, but he is the most influential cricketer in the country. If you really thought the game was going to pot, where was your balls in coming out and demanding changes for the last 5 years? Well the answer is, just like when the racism at Yorkshire thing came out and we found out Root sat around witnessing someone get called a **** over and over again, and he reacted by doing nothing then years later claiming he didnt see it...... he's just a gutless coward. 99 problems, but me, the coach, my mates in the team.... we arent one. Really Joe? Really?
But he's a gentile, nice, cheeky chap style gutless coward...... with no tactical nous. So I guess in the grand scheme of English cricket, he has a job for life.
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And a hat and bra to you too, my good sirs!