Joe Root to captain England against Pakistan at Headingley
When England face Pakistan at Headingley this week, Joe Root will lead the side for the 66th time in Test cricket, a national record for appearances as England captain.
Root first captained England in a Test against South Africa at Lord's in 2017, where he scored 190 in a convincing England win; his 66 matches as captain remain well short of Graeme Smith's 109 matches in charge of South Africa.
Root has recorded more Test wins as England captain than any other English skipper, but by win percentage—among those who have led England in more than 30 Tests—he ranks sixth, with the same number of wins as losses; that percentage has been depressed by just one win in his last 17 Tests, while his first 47 matches as captain produced a better record than Ben Stokes.
Against Australia and India, Root’s record falls further: he ranks 10th among England captains with twice as many losses as wins and has led England to victory in 29% of his Tests against those two opponents, behind Ben Stokes (35%), Sir Alastair Cook (38%) and Mike Brearley (57%); Brearley’s record against Australia and India is the best of any captain, narrowly ahead of Sir Clive Lloyd, who won 22 of his 42 matches in charge.
In 65 Tests as captain, England’s run-rate under Root has been 3.16 with an attacking shot played 23% of the time, compared with a 4.40 run-rate and 42% attacking-shot rate under Stokes; England averaged 29 runs per wicket in Root’s time as captain versus 34 under Stokes and 40 under Strauss, and England lost a wicket every 54.9 balls under Root compared with every 46.3 balls under Stokes and every 69.5 balls under Strauss.
In his first interview after being named captain, Root said: "The last four years have been the most fun I've had in professional cricket and a big part of that was down to the way they [McCullum and Stokes] got me to see the game. "I've taken a lot from that and I feel it will be a big part of how I want to approach things moving forward as a leader of this team. "The thing that stands out the most for me is the shift in mindset that was created around how we want to play the game - trying to strip the fear away from things, make sure guys feel that they can really just allow their talent to come out as frequently as possible and in big moments in games."
Root’s teams have averaged a wicket every 50 balls, with only Ollie Pope-led sides posting a better dismissal rate during his spell in charge; Root, a part-time spin bowler, "will not be able to call on the likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes or even Stokes this time around though," and his use of pace and spin has shifted over time—only Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff used pace bowlers more in home Tests since 2005, while Root’s reliance on spin at home dropped from 24% of balls bowled in 2017 to 14% in 2021—while catch success rates since 2013 place Stokes’ teams at 80%, Cook at 78%, Root at 76% and Pope at 74%.
Root averages almost 47 as captain, down from an average of 53 when not leading the side but up to 54 since he first stepped down; he scored 153 in his penultimate Test in charge against West Indies in Barbados, and going into the Pakistan series he was 1,807 runs shy of Sachin Tendulkar’s Test record of 15,921 runs. With three matches against Pakistan this summer and winter tours to South Africa and Bangladesh scheduled, the upcoming fixtures offer opportunities for Root to move closer to that record and into the next summer's Ashes context.
