‘Nice to See Things Falling into Place’: Joe Root on England’s Progress in Tests

England’s Test captain Joe Root believes England have found their form which will help them win the 2021-22 Ashes in Australia. They have recently thrashed South Africa by 3-1 and the captain said their template will help them in future as well.

In particular, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood’s performances impressed him. They both registered five-wicket hauls during the series to help England win the series. Even They performed beautifully in the recently-concluded series with both bat and ball. They put up 400 runs in the final game as well.

Joe Root on the team’s performance

“We’ve got a great template to work around and it’s nice to see it falling into place,” Root said. “We put things in place this winter about the way we want to play. It has taken time and it will continue to take time for us to stay consistent and adapt to different conditions but we are learning quickly. It would have made a big difference to have Jofra and Woody in Australia last time, I do believe that. It’s something you feel that you need in those conditions.”

“One of our big learnings as a team is that we have taken 20 wickets in every game. That is something we have struggled with in the past when abroad with a Kookaburra ball. There’s still a huge amount of Test cricket to be played before the Ashes. But this does give us confidence and it also gives us knowledge about how to perform on wickets that might be similar,” he added.

Moreover, Root was proud of how England reacted to the adversity they faced after reaching there. They didn’t get the service of James Anderson, Jack Leach and Rory Burns due to illness and injury throughout the tour. But the youngsters stood up and utilised their chances. While Dom Sibley and Ollie Pope scored maiden Test centuries, Dom Bess claimed a maiden five-wicket haul.