It’s a bittersweet feat for Root

Cricket never stops throwing up ironies Joe Root the most vilified man in English cricket today has now led in 60 Testsmdashthe most by any England captain after Alastair Cookrsquos 59 The Yorkshireman is currently in the throes of cricket depression his team unable to loosen Australiarsquos recent grip on the urn despite the men from Down Under not winning an Ashes series in England since Steve Waughrsquos team did so in 2001Root can be accused of unimaginative captaincy but he plays in an era where the captain is not the sole boss of the team The coach and the respective cricketing ecosystem can never be taken out of the equation Yet the captain is the guy who ends up with most wounds and the scars stayTherersquos a good chance the series will end in a 05 rout of England and Root will be replaced as captain Some critics reckon mercurial allrounder Ben Stokes will be a good choice to take over But as former captain David Gower pointed out the other day Stokes has plenty on his plate what with his comeback to international cricket not being smooth post a mental issuescaused breakIf at all Stokes takes over from Root cricket enthusiasts will be reminded of Ian Bothamrsquos appointment as captain when Mike Brearley first quit in 1980 But it must be said that Bothamrsquos captaincy years were disastrous and it took a comeback from Brearley to win the 1981 Ashes in England Botham does not illuminate the list of England captains through the years mdash losing four and drawing eight Tests in the dozen games he ledldquoAlthough I made mistakes I felt I was learning from every one of them I felt too that I had learned the art of man management after what the England team had been through in the West Indies 1981 mdashthe Robin Jackman Affair the cancellation of the second scheduled Test in Guyana a week of living out of a suitcase not knowing whether the tour was on or off and the tragic death of manager Ken Barrington during the Test match in Barbados which took away a man who had been a second father to merdquo wrote Botham in The Incredible Tests 1981 Obviously the English authorities did not read too much into that For he was never called to lead England again after the second Test of the 1981 AshesBrearleyrsquos record is impressivemdash18 wins and only four losses in a 19771981 span He won three Ashes series 1977 197879 and 1981 while the 03 loss to Australia in 197980 was witnessed when the Ashes were not at stake Losing just that one series as captain said much of his captaincy and handling of men but he didnrsquot have to lead England against the best team in the worldmdashthe West IndiesThere are some very successful leaders in that list of England captains who captained in five or more Tests which dates back to FT Mann who led in 1922 There are names like Peter May who stayed in the record books for over three decades as the captain who led England for the most number of timesmdash41 a mark surpassed when Nasser Hussain enjoyed a 45Test tenure as captain May captained the side for the first three Tests against India in 1959 when the hosts won 50 with Colin Cowdrey leading in the last two TestsNot all enduring English captains have enjoyed the distinction of winning an Ashes series Mike Atherton 54 Tests as captain Nasser Hussain 45 and Graham Gooch 34 didnrsquot Gowerrsquos 32Test stint included the glorious 1985 Ashes win but 10 of his 18 losses came against the allconquering West Indies who were led by Clive Lloyd in 1984 and Viv Richards in 198586In the Bonus Features for the film Fire in Babylon Gower referring to leading the side on the 198586 tour of the Caribbean remarked ldquoMy ambitions have been crushed my dreams have been crushed my wrist has been crushed Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong This has been three months that have been among the worst in my life That is how I felt at the end of itrdquoAmong English captains who led in the 1980rsquos Mike Gatting was highly rated although the record books show he won only two Tests and lost five in the 23 Tests he walked out to toss for The couple of victories were achieved against Australia where he won the 198687 AshesHis namesake Denness was the captain who inflicted a 30 whitewash on India in 1974 but his results against Australia were disastrousmdashfour losses and one victory in six Tests as captain The captain who can be really proud of his record in Ashes Tests is Andrew Strauss He led England to victory in the 2009 Ashes at home and followed it up with a 31 triumph in Australia in 201011Incidentally it will be Strauss in his capacity as chief of the Cricket Committee who will be reviewing Englandrsquos disastrous current Ashes tour Back in the present will Root be thrown a lifeline Looks like the irony of captaining your country in a large number of Tests against the old enemy but not winning an Ashes series will staymiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper