Michael Atherton calls for Joe Root to RESIGN as England captain following embarrassing series defeat by the West Indies… with former skipper claiming his position is ‘untenable’
- Joe Root has been urged to step down after embarrassing West Indies defeat
- Former skipper Michael Atherton has insisted Root’s position is ‘untenable’
- England were thrashed by 10 wickets in the series decider in Grenada
- Root’s team have won one Test in their last 17, their worst run since the 1980s
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Former England captain Michael Atherton has urged current skipper Joe Root to resign in the wake of their embarrassing defeat by the West Indies.
England were thrashed by 10 wickets in the series decider in Grenada following another abject display and the team have won just one of their last 17 Tests going back to February 2021 – their worst run since the 1980s.
Root’s side have lost four consecutive series and are winless in their previous nine Tests.
The loss to the West Indies – and the manner in which England capitulated yet again – has heaped more pressure on the beleaguered Root, whose position was also questioned after the dismal 4-0 surrender to Australia in the Ashes.
Joe Root is facing calls to resign as England captain after the defeat by the West Indies
The West Indies won the three-Test series 1-0 after victory in the decider in Grenada
The defeat to the West Indies will spark more intense debate over the future of the England Test team – and Atherton has called for change, including the departure of Root.
‘Root’s captaincy is untenable, and he must surely know it deep down,’ Atherton wrote in The Times.
‘As was obvious to anyone who was in Australia, and should have been obvious to anyone who wasn’t, Root has reached the end of the road as captain.
‘A change will not cure all ills — this is a poor team and England are paying the price for the neglect of the first-class game — but there simply comes a time when a captain has nothing new to say, no new methods of motivating his players and a different voice or different style is required. He had reached that point at the end of the Ashes and nothing has changed.’
Michael Atherton (right) believes Joe Root’s time as captain is up and he should resign
West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite hit the winning runs in their 10-wicket win over England
Root, who has led England’s Test team since 2017, has vowed to stay on as captain despite the chastening defeat by West Indies.
‘I’ve made that quite clear,’ the 31-year-old said. ‘All I can control is what’s in my power and in my hands and I will do whatever I can in whatever capacity to help England win games of cricket and that will never change.
‘I’m still very passionate about taking this team forward. I feel there’s the support of the dressing room behind me and I’m desperate to see them smile and celebrating because we don’t feel that far away.’
Root is consoled by team-mate Ben Stokes following England’s latest disappointment
The series against the West Indies was supposed to kick-start a new-era for the England Test team in its ‘red-ball reset’ following the Ashes debacle.
The ECB has been slammed for focusing too heavily on white-ball cricket to the detriment of the Test side in recent years.
Such criticism is likely to continue in the coming months, with England not in Test action until the home series against New Zealand in June.
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