SA vs ENG 2019-20: “There Is Still a Long Way to Go” – Joe Root

Apart from the winning the ICC World Cup at Lord’s, it has been a not-so-good year for England team in the longest format of the game. Joe Root and Co. started the year with a loss against West Indies. They ended the year with another loss against South Africa in Centurion.

Root referred the year as a ”frustrating” one. He also said that there is a transition going on in Test cricket and also in the year. England played 12 Test matches this year where they won 4 matches and lost 6. The two matches ended in a draw. They lost the West Indies series by 2-1 and almost lost the first-ever Test against Ireland. They lost to Australia as well and failed to regain the Ashes at Home.

Joe Root on England’s performance

While talking about England’s failure in recent time, Joe Root gave the example of their Sri Lanka series in 2018. It was a really good series for England and expectations also increased since then.

However, the captain said there is still a long way to go for this team. His boys have been looking at all the areas where they can get better. He further added this current team is really working hard and giving extra efforts too to get back in the groove soon. Root added they are able to turn things around in the upcoming year.

“It’s a determined group of players who are very keen to do that. Over time, if we can learn these lessons and find ways of shifting our mentality into the first innings from the second innings, then we are going to give ourselves a much better chance of winning games,” the Test captain expressed.

After this South Africa series, England will play against Sri Lanka in March. Following that, they will take on the West Indies and Pakistan later in 2020.