If The Tour Continues To Go This Badly, It Is Hard To See How Joe Root Will Remain As Captain - Michael Atherton Believes Joe Root Might Need To Step Down From Captaincy

Former England opener Michael Atherton believes England skipper Joe Root might need to step down from his captaincy if England faces another crushing series loss in the Ashes. Just two Tests into the 2021-22 Ashes, Joe Root and his men are already 0-2 down and now face the daunting task of winning all the remaining Tests to miraculously regain the Ashes.

England have been far from convincing in all three departments and Joe Root has failed to inspire them as a group and lead by example. Michael Atherton feels that there shouldn’t be a notion that there is no one else to take over the reins from Joe Root and believes that England must now look at other options as captain.

Speaking to The Times, this is what Michael Atherton had to say, “If the tour continues to go this badly, it is hard to see how Root will remain as captain. Ashes tours have often done for England captains and Root is nearer the end of his cycle than the beginning. There is not a rash of alternatives, but the notion that there is no one to take over is the worst rationale for keeping the job.”

Alongside Joe Root, Michael Atherton also pointed head coach Silverwood’s faults

Michael Atherton also shed light on how the England and Wales Cricket Board messed up by giving the power of selection to the head coach Chris Silverwood. There have been some baffling selection decisions over the past few months and Atherton feels there was too much power allotted to the coach.

“As the head coach and main selector, he has to shoulder along with Joe Root. There have been a rash of poor decisions so far – selection, mainly – for which he now has the final call. For the past 12 months, lots of selections have been suspect; the move to invest responsibility for selection with the head coach was always a bad one,” Atherton stated.

Atherton also spoke about how England‘s fragile batting has faltered in the first two Tests. Dawid Malan and Joe Root were the saving graces in what was a sorry-looking batting card for England across the first two games.

“The batting needs urgent attention more generally, but given that no one else has played any cricket, I would give the same batsmen another chance,” Atherton concluded.

England will now take on Australia in the third Test of the five-match series which is all set to commence on Boxing Day in Melbourne.