Nasser Hussain hailed new England Test captain Joe Root’s decision to abolish a team curfew but fears the returning skipper sometimes lacks a feel for the game as a leader like his predecessor Ben Stokes.
Root has captained England on a record 65 occasions, most recently during their second Test defeat to New Zealand earlier this summer after Stokes and Gus Atkinson were suspended for breaking a team curfew that was introduced off the back of the 4-1 Ashes defeat in the winter.
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“It’s just a grown up decision, isn’t it?” Hussain said on the latest Sky Sports Cricket Podcast of Root’s decision to axe said curfew ahead of the three-Test series against Pakistan – live on Sky Sports – starting Wednesday.
“You’ve lost the team if you’ve got a curfew. You’ve got no control over your team.
“There’s nothing good that happens with curfews because someone will end up breaking it.
“Just treat people like grown ups, and if they don’t behave like grown ups, then the first thing you do is fine them, and then the second thing you do is leave them out.
“A professional sporting outfit shouldn’t need a curfew, and it just shows how bad a place they were in that a curfew was put in.
“I’m really pleased that Joe has said ‘no, enough of that nonsense’.”
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Sky Sports News correspondent Geraint Hughes provides background details on the appointments of Stephen Fleming as head coach and Joe Root as captain to the England Test set-up
The immediate task facing Root is to revive an England side that have lost eight of their last 13 Test matches following on from the 2-1 series loss to New Zealand that ended the ‘Bazball’ era and also saw the international retirement of Stokes.
Root’s first permanent stint as skipper, however, also ended with a similarly barren run, with just one win in his final 17 Tests before he resigned from the captaincy in 2022.
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Speaking after the New Zealand Test win in 2022, Joe Root explained why he’d taken the decision to step away from Test captaincy
“He was given the biggest of hospital passes [for the second Test against New Zealand] at The Oval,” Hussain said. “That was very recent, that wasn’t four years ago, and it brought back some of the memories of Joe as a captain.
“For such a great player that has a feel for the tempo of a game, in that game at The Oval, he didn’t have the feel of the game.
“He almost was trying to be a bit too Ben Stokes-ish, having men on the drive on a bouncy Oval pitch where balls were going behind.
“He doesn’t quite have the feel of the game. And that’s what I liked about Stokes’ captaincy. He had a real feel for it.
“I’m pleased he’s doing it, although I may have gone in the direction of Harry Brook, because I do see with Harry in white-ball cricket that he has a real feel for the game.
“He has an aura about him, but I understand the caveats of the schedule and all that sort of stuff.”
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England managing director Rob Key explains why it was ‘the right thing to do’ in giving Joe Root the Test captaincy over vice-captain Harry Brook
Athers: Root genuinely excited by captaincy return
Brook, despite being vice-captain, was overlooked to skipper the side for that second Test against New Zealand at The Oval.
Given his captaincy of the England white-ball sides, there may have been a reluctancy to overburden the 27-year-old with the permanent Test job, while his altercation with a nightclub bouncer the night before an ODI against New Zealand last winter drew heavy criticism.
“I put to Root, ‘are you doing this out of duty or real desire?'” said Michael Atherton, who recently interviewed Root.
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Joe Root gives his first interview since being reappointed England Test captain
“Duty in the sense that there is really nobody else. Once they don’t want Harry Brook to do it over three formats, where else do they go?
“But I sense he’s genuinely very excited by the opportunity. He feels as though he’s got some ammunition there in terms of his faster bowlers.
“And I thought he trod a nice line between being loyal to what has gone before. He continues to speak very highly about Brendon McCullum.
“I think he genuinely felt McCullum was a good coach for him as a batter and a good coach for the team, albeit it ended badly.
“He was careful not to say he’s going to throw everything out. He wants to take the bits of Bazball that worked but perhaps put his own stamp on it.
“I thought the most important thing that he said was that he’s not going to look to try and impose a predetermined style on this team.”
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.
