“He’s got a great cricket brain and I think his record as England captain is actually pretty good.”
“Absolutely,” Woakes, one of the England players at an optional nets session, told reporters in Melbourne when asked if Root retained the team’s backing. “Joe is a great cricketer, he’s got a great cricket brain and I think his record as England captain is actually pretty good.
“Definitely it feels like Joe will continue. Hopefully he will. It’s clear that the captaincy isn’t having an effect on his batting, which a lot of the time with captains can be the case. The fact that he’s scoring the runs he is, is great for the team.
“It would be great if we could help him out with that and score a few more runs around him. Joe is a world-class player who has obviously had a fantastic year. When a guy bats as well as he has you would expect us to put in a lot stronger performances than we have.”