When Joe Root left the field for the first time in his second stint as England’s Test captain, he did so with Harry Brook’s arm over his shoulder. Two Yorkshiremen. Two England batters. The only two candidates when England needed to replace Ben Stokes as skipper. Brook could have appeared scorned after being overlooked for
First Rothesay Test, Headingley (day one of five) Pakistan 171 all out: Shafique 61; Tongue 5-46, Robinson 5-51 England 112-2: Root 37*, Gay 33; Abbas 1-34 England are 59 runs behind Scorecard Ollie Robinson and Josh Tongue each took five wickets to give Joe Root the ideal start to his second spell as England captain
Arlene Kelly and Alice Tector have both recovered from injury to be named in Ireland’s squad for their one-day international series against England. The pair missed last month’s 3-0 ODI defeat by West Indies but have been named in head coach Lloyd Tennant’s 14-player squad for the three-game series which starts in Leicester on 1
England will play Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Lahore and Rawalpindi in a one-day international tri-series in October. Each team will play each other twice with the top two finishers meeting in a final on 31 October. It is England’s first ODI tri-series since a contest against Australia and India in Australia before the 2015
Root, England’s greatest batter and a veteran of 166 Tests, said he hoped his “natural persona” is suited to bringing a sense of calm to the men’s national team. Off-field issues dominated last winter’s tours, including an incident involving Harry Brook and a nightclub bouncer in Wellington and the team’s drinking during a mid-Ashes trip
Covid destroyed Root’s team, and there are other reasons why Root might also feel he didn’t get a fair shake first time around. His tenure as captain coincided with a prioritisation of white-ball cricket and, when he stood in for Stokes against New Zealand in June, he admitted to some envy at not getting the
