Hard to see that Joe Root will carry on as captain after the end of ongoing Ashes: Michael Atherton

The misery seems to continue for England as they went on to lose the third Test match of the Ashes 2021-22 on Tuesday morning. With this, Australia have officially retained the urn, and look in no mood to stop dominating the visitors. However, what’s surprising is the fact that the Poms meekly surrendered on day three of Boxing day, and were bundled for 68 in the second innings.

It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that barring their skipper Joe Root, none of the batters from the touring party have been consistent. This is the third instance of him failing to win the Ashes. Thus, Michael Atherton wasn’t too sure if the 31-year-old would want to continue leading the English side.

While writing in his column for The Times, the former England cricketer spoke about the failures of the English Test skipper in Australia. He also spoke about how the losses would have taken a toll on the batting maestro. Thus, the 53-year-old felt had his doubts regarding Root’s willingness to continue to lead his side.

He has now failed in his quest for the Ashes on three occasions: Michael Atherton 

“It is hard to see that Root will want to carry on after the end of this series. He has now failed in his quest for the Ashes on three occasions and has lost seven out of eight Tests in Australia, more than any other England captain. The bruising experience of four years ago has been followed by what feels like an even more disastrous tour,” said Michael Atherton.

“There comes a point where a captain simply feels he has nothing more to give or offer and that players would benefit from a change of voice as much as anything. He has probably reached that point,” he added. Although the visitors have lost all their games in the series so far, the Yorkshire batter has asked for more time to decide on his captaincy future.

As a captain, the right-handed batter faced a 4-0 defeat in the Ashes 2017-18. He failed to bring back the urn during the home series in 2019, as the Aussies managed to draw that series too. While his returns as a skipper hasn’t been the best, there aren’t too many options to replace him as a leader at the moment.