Under-fire England captain Joe Root claims he STILL has backing of dressing room despite humiliating West Indies defeat
JOE ROOT claims he STILL has the backing of the dressing room despite a humiliating ten-wicket defeat to the West Indies.
The hosts knocked off their 28-run target in Grenada to inflict a fifth straight series loss on Root’s England.
But Root reiterated his desire to remain captain.
He said: “I’ve made it quite clear that I’m very passionate about this job and trying to take this team forward.
“I feel there’s the support of the dressing room behind me and I’m desperate to see them smile and celebrating because we don’t feel that far away.”
England have won just one of their last 17 red-ball matches to leave them rock bottom of the World Test Championship.
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Former captains Michael Vaughan, Michael Atherton and Sir Geoffrey Boycott have called for Root to step down.
But Kevin Pietersen, who scored 23 centuries for England in 104 Tests, tweeted: “Poor old Joe Root suffering at the hands of a system that’s so bad!
“There is NO-ONE who can coach or captain that team any better.
“ZERO batting technique! ZERO! I feel for the players!”
Interim coach Paul Collingwood also backed the skipper.
Colly, who still wants to be considered for the role on a permanent basis, said: “The team is together and right behind Joe.
“If I didn’t think that, there would be a problem.”
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Root admitted he was hit hard by England’s two batting collapses — crumbling to 120 all out in their second innings in Grenada.
He added: “Saturday really let us down. It is a punch to take because for the majority of this series we have played so much good cricket.
“Some poor decision-making and, at times, a lack of skill probably let us down when we really needed to stand up.”