Michael Atherton: England must become Joe Root’s team after Ben Stokes, Brendon McCullum departures – he has a unique opportunity
Michael Atherton sat down with Joe Root after his reappointment as captain; the 35-year-old struck an optimistic tone, with Atherton believing England must now become Root’s team after the Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum era – a unique opportunity second time around
Thursday 13 August 2026 14:53, UK
Fresh from exclusively speaking to Joe Root following his reappointment as England captain, Sky Sports Cricket's Michael Atherton looks further into the move...
Sitting down with Joe Root, he seemed pretty relaxed, optimistic and excited about taking on the captaincy for a second time.
And there's a fundamental reason for that, I suppose. How many of us in life get a second chance at something?
When you're made captain or you lead an organisation, people always say: 'Make sure you do it your way and don't have any regrets at the end of it because you won't get another go at this.'
Joe Root is getting another go at it.
- Jacob Bethell to miss Pakistan series as Ollie Pope returns
- The Ashes: England vs Australia 2027 dates confirmed
- Stream England cricket and more without a contract
How many of us would love to retrace our steps and have another go at something that we did well or not so well the first time around? He's got that opportunity now.
He's got a chance to bring all his wisdom and his knowledge and perhaps right some of the mistakes he made first time around.
I mean, he had a good time of it as England captain. Nobody has won more games in the role; equally, nobody has lost as many, so it wasn't a completely smooth ride for him.
The hope is that he can bring a lot of that knowledge and wisdom to bear the second time around.
He will want to do it a little bit differently, because you've got to think that between his first coming and his second coming as captain, there's been four years of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum driving an England team to play in a way that probably no other England team in the history of the game has played.
Root is coming in on the back of that.
A lot of our interview is about how he wants to keep certain things of Bazball - if you want to call it that - but also tweak some things and put his own stamp on it.
This has now got to be Root's team again, not Stokes' team. So the transition to that will be a fascinating one.
'Captaincy won't affect Root like last time, nor his batting'
I asked him whether it was out of a desire to do it or a duty because there are very few other options.
You have to remember that when he gave up the captaincy the first time around, he talked about having an unhealthy relationship with it, so I put a couple of questions about that to him.
Is he certain he won't be damaged by the captaincy again? A lot of the answers revolve around the COVID years.
He had to lead England during a couple of COVID years, and he felt that had a particular negative impact on him.
Of course, it is a very different time now.
And I'm confident the pressures of captaincy won't impact how he performs with the bat. It didn't the first time around.
Although in the interview he says he felt it impacted him initially, he actually felt that, in the last year or 18 months of his captaincy, he was batting as well as ever. The numbers suggest he did pretty well as a batting captain; I think he averaged 46 during that time.
The biggest line is about the curfew, which we put out there. And I'm very happy that he's done that.
Curfews are a crazy way to run a grown-up, professional sporting team. I'm very glad that, between him and new Test coach Stephen Fleming, they've sat down and said: 'Let's treat these players as grown-ups.'
If they step out of line and mess up, there is going to be consequences. Your expectations have to be clear to the players, but treat people like grown-ups.
England vs Pakistan Test series fixtures
- First Test (Headingley) - Wednesday August 19 - Sunday August 23 (first ball 11am)
- Second Test (Lord's) - Thursday August 27 - Monday August 31 (first ball 11am)
- Third Test (Edgbaston) - Wednesday September 9 - Sunday September 13 (first ball 11am)
Watch the three-Test series between England and Pakistan live on Sky Sports Cricket from August 19. Stream cricket and more sport contract-free with NOW.
