Ben Stokes perhaps the only viable alternative to Joe Root as England Test captain; Gary Kirsten looks the frontrunner should Chris Silverwood lose his role as head coach - but South African would only do the job if Test and white-ball coaching roles were split
Sunday 2 January 2022 12:25, UK
Joe Root's golden year was also England's worst one.
The England captain was outstanding with the bat in 2021 - amassing 1,708 runs at an average of 61 - but the rest of his team were not, which is one of the chief reasons they tumbled to a record nine defeats in the five-day arena, matching Bangladesh's tally of losses in 2003.
Root hit 1,178 more runs than the next highest scorer, Rory Burns (530). The fact England's third-highest run-getter was 'extras' gives a stark insight into the batting woes they experienced. As does the record 54 Test ducks they bagged, a number which equalled their number of noughts from 1998.
It meant that for all of Root's achievements with the blade - six centuries, two of them doubles, the third-highest return ever for a Test batter in a calendar year - he has now suffered the most defeats as England Test captain, with the Yorkshireman up to 24 losses in 59 games.
Root surpassed David Gower (18), Michael Atherton (21) and Sir Alastair Cook (22) during his side's annus horribilis to become England's most beaten Test skipper but he is also their most winningest, having trumped Michael Vaughan's 26 wins when his side beat India in Leeds in August.
That is England's only victory in their last 12 Tests and you do wonder whether Root has had his fill of the top job. It's two Ashes series defeats in Australia now - the latest one could yet end in a 5-0 sweep - while he was also at the helm for a chastening loss in India earlier this year.
Root has carried the batting all year long and, at times, been the premier spin bowler, too.
Add that to his captaincy and it is a heavy load for one man. You couldn't blame him if he called time on his near five-year spell in charge come the end of the Ashes series or indeed if England made that call themselves.
Root, of course, has not been faultless as captain. Some of the selection decisions during the Ashes have been pretty baffling and Rob Key said on the latest Sky Sports Cricket Podcast that he does not believe the 31-year-old is a "tactical genius". But Root might still be the best man for the job because the list of potential replacements looks a pretty slender one.
You could argue that Ben Stokes is the only viable alternative but would England want to burden their most influential player with that position? After all, he is only recently back from a long break from the game prioritising his mental wellbeing.
Beyond that, you are scratching around, principally because after the Ashes debacle, you are not entirely sure what England's XI will look like going forward. It's hard to name many guaranteed picks in the team or indeed any among the batters, aside from Root, Stokes and probably Dawid Malan.
Jos Buttler is renowned as having a shrewd cricket brain - he has been Test deputy before and looks nailed on to succeed Eoin Morgan as white-ball leader at some stage, but after struggling for runs and to take catches in Australia, will he still be in situ come the tour of the Caribbean in March?
A left-field choice would be to pluck someone who has captained well in county cricket, such as Hampshire's James Vince or Somerset's Tom Abell, but that would be quite the leap of faith.
Indeed, the reports of late suggest Root would be open to sticking as skipper, particularly if red-ball cricket is given top priority by the ECB, but it looks increasingly likely that England will have a new coach at the helm. If Chris Silverwood were to be sacked, he couldn't really grumble.
The stats make for grim reading for him when it comes to wins and losses, with 2021 featuring those aforementioned record-equalling nine defeats and just four victories.
There is also what appears the valid argument that players are not improving on his watch and potentially even regressing. Take Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope, for example.
Sibley averaged 47.30 in Tests in 2020, Crawley 52.72 - albeit that his numbers were swelled by that breakout score of 267 against Pakistan at The Ageas Bowl - and Pope 43.72. In 2021, Sibley averaged 19.77, Crawley 10.81 and Pope 21.64. That is quite the drop off.
Yes, Sibley, Crawley and Pope may have been worked out by top-quality international bowlers, but it seems that Silverwood has been unable to come up with fixes - and isn't that his job?
He also drummed home the importance of big first-innings runs but England have only passed 400 once since they racked up 578 against India in Chennai in February, while they have been dismissed for under 200 on 13 occasions across first and second innings in 2021. Those aren't numbers that will leave a head coach feeling safe.
I've always made it clear that I would never commit to doing all formats. Your Test side has battled for a while but it would be a really lovely project to get that going.
As far as possible replacements go, there appears a standout candidate - but England will probably need to tweak their set-up to get him.
Gary Kirsten led South Africa and India to the top of the Test rankings and India to the 2011 50-over World Cup title.
He has the extensive international pedigree Silverwood lacks - both as a player and a coach - applied for the role in 2015 and 2019, and has voiced his interest in taking the job this time around should it come up.
The proviso? That the Test and white-ball coaching positions are split.
It makes sense. England play more Test cricket than anyone else, so if you add the white-ball games into that as well then coaching in all formats can involve lengthy stints away from family. It's no surprise many of today's top coaches prefer the shorter stints in T20 leagues.
England managing director of cricket Ashley Giles opted against split roles when he had to decide how to replace Trevor Bayliss in 2019.
Giles said he wanted to achieve "consistency in communication", something he probably felt was lacking when he was white-ball leader and Andy Flower red-ball kingpin during a previous period of England split coaches between 2012 and 2014.
But the recent Test travails may yet constitute a rethink on that front as well as whether the head coach should also be the chief selector. It hasn't gone great since Silverwood assumed full responsibility following the departure of national selector Ed Smith, with Sky Sports expert and former England captain Michael Atherton calling the decision "a strategic mistake."
Kirsten in charge of the Test side, with a separate white-ball head coach - Paul Collingwood, perhaps - could make for an intriguing future for England as they look to build on their recent limited-overs success and completely transform their red-ball fortunes.
It does not have to be Kirsten. Justin Langer could soon be available, while his fellow Australian Ricky Ponting would be quite the get if England could pull that one off.
Mike Hesson and Gary Stead have also shown with New Zealand that you do not need to have a seasoned playing career at the top level to be an effective international coach.
With that in mind, Essex's Anthony McGrath or Lancashire's Glen Chapple may fancy stepping up from county cricket but you do wonder whether the ECB has been scarred by its last two English appointments in Peter Moores (twice) and now Silverwood.
A Kirsten-type looks more likely. Someone with heft who can come in, fix the issues and try to ensure that Root's runs don't go to waste in the future.
