England Test captain Joe Root admitted to a frustrating and disappointing performance in the recently-concluded two-match Test series against New Zealand which they lost 0-1, with an 8-wicket loss in the second Test on Sunday (June 13) at Edgbaston, saying the hosts didn’t give a fair account of themselves in the home series.
Root said that the hosts have some hard lessons to learn from the home series loss and move forward.
As reported by ESPNcricinfo, Root said: “It's been a frustrating and disappointing performance this week. I don't think we've given a fair account of ourselves. We've been outplayed in all three departments, particularly the batting. We didn't get the runs in the first innings. We missed chances in the field and didn't help our bowlers in that respect and we were poor with the bat in the 2nd innings.”
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The skipper further added, “Sometimes in Test cricket, you can have a poor session with the ball and you're still very much in the game. But a session that likes can cost you a Test. That's where we find ourselves. It's cost us the series and we have some hard lessons to learn. We have to look at where we can get better individually and collectively. We need to be honest about that. We have to have some hard conversations and move forward.
We have to front up, look to get better and learn some hard lessons sometimes. We've all underperformed this week. But we have to be constructive. I think every single one of those guys has proven they can score big Test runs. I think it would be the wrong time to start panicking and trying to rip up all the hard work we've done for such a long period of time. It's something that historically we've done going into big tournaments and big Test series and it's made things even worse.”
However, the Test skipper admitted that they had poor series against New Zealand but said his players are talented and have the ability, so one series loss can’t make them bad players.
He added, “There's a huge desire to keep getting better as a team. We know there's talent and ability in the group. Sometimes you really learn about a group of players, going through a difficult period like this. We have had a poor week, a poor series, and have got to front up to that. But it doesn't make them bad players.
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There's been a lot of talk about technique and batting. My view is batting is very much an individual thing. There's no right or wrong way of doing it. Look at the best players in the world. They all have different methods of how they play. How they stand...where they score their runs.”
Root signed off by saying about his own form, “As the leading run-scorer within our squad currently, I feel like I've put a lot of pressure on those guys by not performing myself. As a captain, you pride yourself on getting big runs and leading from the front and I've not managed to follow through on that. So I've probably compounded that situation slightly.”
(With ANI Inputs)
