Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott on Tuesday (December 29) said that Joe Root must step down as England skipper after his team’s baffling surrender in Melbourne in the third Ashes Test ensured Australia retained the Ashes.
On December 29 (Tuesday), Australia handed England a humiliating defeat by an innings and 14 runs as the hosts were aggressive and persistent with their terrific bowling execution.
"Now Australia are 3-0 up and the Ashes have gone, will Root please stop saying Australia are not much better than us? I don't mind him living in cuckoo land but stop trying to kid us," Boycott wrote in his column in The Telegraph.
"If he really believes what he says then maybe it is time he gave up the captaincy of the England cricket team. The facts are staring us all in the face, except Joe doesn't want to see it. England can't bat. Our bowling is ordinary," he added.
Root’s multiple decisions, like batting first on a pacer-friendly pitch at the Gabba and leaving out pacers like James Anderson and Stuart Broad who have over 1,100 Test wickets between them, have been highly criticised recently.
Botham “embarrassed”
But not only Boycott, even former England captain Ian Botham expressed his disappointment after the Joe-Root led side failed to do something fruitful in the Ashes Test series. The 66-year-old former skipper wants England to include fresh talent in order to improve the performances in the team.
“I’m a little embarrassed.To lose the Ashes in 12 days, I don’t know if that’s the fastest, but it’s got to be very close to it. I just think that England have lost their way,” Botham told Seven Network.
“The performance today summed it up for me, I think you’ve got enough time to get a couple of players in from the Lions tour because we need to freshen it up, at the moment it’s stagnating,” he added.
Is pandemic a reason?
Another former England captain, Michael Vaughan, said that the Covid-19 pandemic meant that England had not had a good preparation for the series but the real reason was something more glaring.
“For some time now, this Test match team has not been good enough,” he said on Australian TV.
“They’ve not focused enough on the Test match team, the focus has been more on white-ball cricket – and it delivered a World Cup.
“I honestly don’t think our system allows young players to develop and give themselves a chance of playing at this level.”
Australia are scheduled to play against England in the fourth Test match in the Ashes series at the Sydney Cricket Ground, starting on January 5.
