Stokes will return as England captain for 3rd Test against New Zealand.
England batting great Sir Geoff Boycott has slammed Joe Root’s poor captaincy after England lost the second Test to New Zealand at the Oval and the three-match Test series became equal, 1-1. Boycott has stated that Root has ‘learned nothing’ from his difficult first stint. Boycott went as far as ‘thanking heavens’ for Ben Stokes’ return for the third match.
Following England's victory in the first Test, Stokes and Gus Atkinson were suspended from the second match, awaiting an inquiry into their suspected involvement in a nightclub brawl with a rugby player.
Due to the fragility of the English team, which had to field three debutants, and vice-captain Harry Brook's own history of such occurrences, Root was asked to take the lead.
England were convincingly outplayed and lost by a margin of 253 runs, marking Root’s record 27th defeat as Test captain. However, Stokes and Atkinson have been cleared of any wrongdoing and were let off with a written warning about breaking team curfew, and Stokes will be back as England captain for the third and decisive Test.
“Thank heavens Ben Stokes will be back to lead England at Trent Bridge because it appeared Joe Root had learned nothing from his last stint as England captain. Now that Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson have retired from Test match cricket, Root is the undisputed best batsman in the world.
What a wonderful thing to be able to say about a smashing lad who everybody likes, including me. But having praised his batting, I take no pleasure in saying he does not have a feel for captaincy as we saw at the Oval,” Boycott wrote for The Telegraph.
“Now that Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson have retired from Test match cricket, Root is the undisputed best batsman in the world. What a wonderful thing to be able to say about a smashing lad who everybody likes, including me. But having praised his batting, I take no pleasure in saying he does not have a feel for captaincy as we saw at the Oval," he added.
Boycott also highlighted how Root’s poor handling of Jofra Archer assisted in England’s defeat in the second Test, as Archer was given a heavy workload and lengthy spells of short-pitched bowling.
“Captaincy is a gift, and a good leader has a natural inkling about who to bowl and what field to set for different batsmen," he wrote. “You cannot read it in a book, but you can learn from watching opposition captains from all over the world. Sometimes it is intuition or luck, and occasionally, when you get a guy who is lucky and good, then you get an exceptionally successful leader. Stokes is very good at handling Jofra Archer, whereas Joe seemed to make the same mistakes at the Oval as he did when he captained England in New Zealand in 2019," he added.
Boycott believed that Archer should be deployed in brief, high-intensity spells to maximize his pace and effectiveness, particularly as his IPL contracts restrict his Test preparation. He claimed that leaders with all-around experience, such as Stokes, frequently have a better grasp of how to handle bowlers.
“It was madness, Joe, asking him to bowl an eight-over spell at the end of the first day at the Oval with numerous short balls aimed at the New Zealand batsman Glenn Phillips and the tail-enders," Boycott wrote.
England will play New Zealand in the third Test that will be played at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, from June 25 onwards.
(Telegraph inputs)