Joe Root’s not the man!

Theres no doubt England is a badly chosen Test side poorly led and needing a drastic overhaul Is it also a prime example of Test cricketrsquos futureTest cricket could eventually be limited to matches between the eight major nations Sometime in the future Afghanistan Bangladesh Ireland and Zimbabwe wonrsquot be featuring in longer matches For reasons that include lack of ability as well as lack of home ground facilities that is easy to visualiseWhat about the major nationsUnless something is done to bolster the West Indies finances there will continue to be a question mark over Caribbean participation The lack of cricket initiative deserves criticism for letting the West Indies Test team sink to a low levelConcerns over SA cricketBecause of the unsettled political situation there will continue to be concern about South Africa This becomes even more apparent when the highly capable Quinton de Kock retires from Test cricket while still in his primeSri Lanka Pakistan and New Zealand have problems ranging from political uncertainty to player pool depth Nevertheless they do have an affinity for producing players and particularly Pakistan and New Zealand appear to prosper in adversityThat leaves the big three India Australia and EnglandIndia has proven they can win away from home and are now the best allround side With a huge player pool there is no reason this should change but a lot will depend on whether the captain following Virat Kohli has the same passion for Test cricketAustralia will always be a reasonable Test nation despite the concern about future young batsmen The Australian infrastructure whilst severely diluted still serves a purpose and has a tendency to produce capable captainsPat Cummins is a good example He leads with commonsense and has a team under him who knows whatrsquos required in the fiveday game Experience says a team of competitors who want to play for their captain will usually achieve decent home resultsThat leaves England The current tour suggests a fivenil loss and a humiliating defeat at thatIf that occurs England will have featured in 25 Tests in Australia including 200607 for 20 losses and only two draws Their three wins all came on the successful 201011 tour when Andrew Strauss led a determined outfit That is a disgraceful record and cannot be fully explained by any blustering at press conferencesThere is no doubt England is a presentable home side but considering their travelling record under Rootrsquos captaincy they struggle to be considered a top level nation This was obvious in India where England badly lost the series 31 and in Australia they are in danger of having lost nine of the ten Tests Root has ledFading EnglandEven in England Rootrsquos lack of inspiration as a leader is starting to show Albeit in some trying years because of the pandemic England is starting to lose its reputation as a team that is difficult to beat at homeItrsquos incorrect to make Root culpable as he is easily Englandrsquos best batsman but he has to accept some of the blame Hersquos never been a leader of substance and virtually gained the job because there was no other candidate and it was hoped hersquod grow into the jobItrsquos become patently clear Rootrsquos not the man for the task if England want to be recognised as a tough team to beat in all circumstances That is the easy part bringing something to an end the tough job is finding a better solutionIn the current side only Ben Stokes could be considered captaincy material He has the qualities of a good captain hersquos aggressive inspirational and has the ability to lift the sideIt would be an extremely tough task given his already demanding role as a threeway player However he has the ability to do the job but it could also break his spiritThe other major point to consider is the ECB doesnrsquot have a renowned reputation for taking tough decisions