Hope Joe Root Continues To Be Our Captain For Foreseeable Future: ECB CEO Tom Harrison

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) CEO Tom Harrison said that losing the Ashes to Australia should allow them to change the patterns in their domestic structure.

Although England managed to earn a draw in Sydney to avoid the embarrassment of another whitewash, the damage was already caused after they failed to win a single game in their first three fixtures.

The Australians never let England settle right from the start of the first Test in Brisbane where they won by nine wickets inside four days.

They followed their success with a 275-run victory in Adelaide despite some dogged resistance by Jos Buttler to delay the result.

Australia thumped England on the third day of the Boxing Day Test match as they sealed the win by an innings and 14 runs to clinch the Ashes 3-0 and retain the urn.

We absolutely need to be successful at Test cricket: Tom Harrison

Harrison said that the board’s priority is to recalibrate their first-class cricket in order to strengthen their players for the red-ball format.

“Our priority is Test cricket. We want to be successful at white-ball cricket, of course we do. But we absolutely need to be successful at Test cricket,” Harrison said in a press conference.

“It feels like this is a moment to reset the importance of red-ball cricket in our domestic schedule, for us to recalibrate how we play first-class cricket in the UK.

“It’s a brilliant opportunity for us to come together as a game and really sort that once and for all. We have got to sort our schedule out. We know that is a significant challenge for us. We have got to look at that debate around the volume of cricket,” he added.

Joe Root has been a fantastic leader: Tom Harrison

Many pundits have backfired leadership group of England Test captain Joe Root and head coach Chris Silverwood for their team selection and tactical issues in the series.

Root has failed to win Ashes for the third time as England captain and is also yet to find a Test win in Australia. Amid the demand for change in captaincy, Harrison wants Root to continue to lead the Test team.

“I think Joe’s been a fantastic leader through this very difficult time. I’ve had lots of conversations with him and I for one hope that Joe continues to be our captain for the foreseeable future,” Harrison said.

“I think he’s demonstrated that he’s able to perform whilst holding the office. And as I said, I think this has been a very very difficult tour.

“It’s obviously been extremely disappointing on the field that we haven’t been at the level we need to be at to be effective over here. It has been another very disappointing episode in our ongoing attempt to win the Ashes in Australia,” he added.

England are currently playing in the final Ashes Test against Australia in Hobart and are eyeing to win their first game in Down Under since 2010/11.

Also Read: Joe Root Backs England Head Coach Chris Silverwood To Continue In The Role Post Ashes