Joe Root insists he remains the right man for the job - again - as his recent captaincy record stretches to just one win in 17 Tests following a heavy defeat in Grenada
Match Report:
ScorecardPressure mounts on Root after Windies claim series decider
Joe Root is determined to remain England captain and turn their form around after another Test loss led to calls for him to resign.
England concluded a miserable winter with a ten-wicket defeat to West Indies in Grenada, taking the third Test only 90 minutes into the fourth day.
They were dismissed for 120 leaving West Indies only 28 runs to secure a 1-0 series victory. The home side raced to the target in 29 balls, skipper Kraigg Brathwaite making 20no.
West Indies first win for 11 Tests was England's fifth defeat of the northern hemisphere winter following the 4-0 drubbing in Australia, further increasing the pressure on captain Root.
Back in January, Root recommitted himself to the job after the Ashes thrashing and declared himself the best man to lead the team into a new era.
But that chapter has veered off course at the first turn.
With two largely positive draws under their belt in Antigua and Barbados, England came unstuck at the pivotal moment and the statistics are trending in a dispiriting direction for Root, who has now overseen just one win in his past 17 Tests and has failed to take a series in his past five attempts.
The reaction to the winning runs is everything!🙌🏾 #WIvENG pic.twitter.com/xoEJiIhdc6
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) March 27, 2022
After five years and a record 64 games in charge, the Yorkshireman's future may ultimately lie with two people who have yet to be appointed – the incoming director of cricket and the next Test coach – but his own desire remains undimmed.
"I am very passionate about taking this team forward. I made that quite clear ahead of this game and that is not going to waver," he said.
"I think I've spoken quite enough on the subject if I'm being honest. As always, you use the people around you that you trust and that's been the case since I took the role on.
Image Id: A101F27CD9F542B69851E72993F431F1 Image Caption: West Indies celebrate their series win in Grenada // Getty"I can't control any of that (off-field recruitment). All I can control is, when having the opportunity to lead this team, throwing everything at it. I'll do anything I can to help England win. That's not going to change.
"I don't think it's ever in your hands, but I feel like the group are very much behind me. We're doing a lot of really good things and we just need to turn that into results now.
"I know this is a results-based business but it does not feel like we are far away from turning results.
"We have to address what happened here, but not to focus too heavily on it. We have to use the conversation about what happened in first two games to drive us forward.
"For majority of this series we played so much good cricket and made big strides forward as a team. We showed improvements in a number of different areas but two-and-a half sessions of bad cricket has really let us down."