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'He sat there with his head in his hands': Atherton points out exact moment when Root decided to leave England captaincy
Mike Atherton spoke in detail about Joe Root stepping down as England's captain, insisting that he wasn't surprised with the batter's decision.
England's Joe Root stepped down from Test captaincy on Friday, saying the job had taken a heavy toll on him recently, following dispiriting tours of Australia and the Caribbean. England endured a 4-0 defeat in the Ashes series, and faced yet another disappointing outing in the West Indies where the side conceded a 1-0 defeat in the three-match series.
England have won just one of their previous 17 tests and the pressure had been mounting on Root even before their series defeat by the West Indies last month, which came on the heels of an Ashes series thrashing by Australia.
Root, who said in late March he wanted to continue as captain, is England's second-highest test run-scorer of all time behind Cook and his tally of 5,295 runs as skipper is the highest by an England captain. All-rounder Ben Stokes, who was Root's deputy, has been tipped as a favourite to become the next captain, while bookmakers have made bowler Stuart Broad the second favourite.
Mike Atherton, a former England captain himself, insisted that he is “not surprised” with Root's decision to step down.
“I'm not surprised really. It had got to this stage at the end of the Ashes, really. In the West Indies tour, it was pretty clear that a change needed to be made. There comes a moment in every England captain's life where you realise you've given it your all and can't do anymore,” said Atherton on Sky Sports.
Further talking about Root, Atherton pinpointed the moment during England's tour of West Indies when the England batter might have had the realisation of stepping down in the leadership role.
“There was this particular moment in the Granada Test match when Ben Foakes was run out and the team was sliding to defeat. The cameras panned in on Joe Root in England's balcony and he sat there with his head in his hands looking quite distraught and despairing. You thought, at that moment, that the realization comes to him at last,” said Atherton.
“He should have stepped down at the end of the Ashes, really. They tried to insulate his captaincy by making some changes. But I think it was pretty evident that Joe came to the end of the road.”
