Joe Root wants Cook, Broad and Anderson to continue playing for another year
The elderly men of the team have been receiving quite a stick recently.
Judging by how the Englishmen have been treated by the merciless Aussies in the ongoing Ashes series, it would be fair to say that another Graeme Swann-esque retirement would not count as a surprise. But the skipper of the Three Lions, Joe Root does not want the elderly people of the team to put a full stop to there career now, and not in a year’s time.
The experienced trio of Alastair Cook, James Anderson and Stuart Broad were the men under the spotlight in this crucial series, as they were expected to lead this inexperienced English side. But they have failed miserably, which has led to Steve Smith’s men already sealing the series and now aiming for what would be very shameful for England, a whitewash.
While there is no end to fans who want the trio to retire, Root doesn’t want to walk hand in hand with them. Rather, he has done a Virat Kohli here, by defending the former skipper of the team that he is leading now. On being asked about whether he would want the veterans to continue playing, he replied “I’d like to think so – they have huge amounts of experience and they do offer a lot to this group and their performances over a long period of time speak for themselves.”
“They’ve been in situations where things haven’t gone for them before and that’s why they’ve played so many games. There’s no reason why they can’t do that again throughout the rest of this series. It’s very important that as a group, me as captain and Trevor [Bayliss, the head coach] – we don’t panic, we don’t make any hasty decisions after three games that haven’t gone in our favour,” the 26-year old further added, as per reports in Omnisport.
Why does England still needs Cook?
Root was questioned about the reason behind his strong support for Cook. In reply, the Yorkshire man said “I think the fact he’s done it so many times before, the fact he’s a very stubborn guy that likes proving people wrong could come into it.”
“I can see him coming out at Melbourne and at Sydney and hopefully turning things round, making some big scores and getting back to where he wants to be,” concluded the man who is just a run away from 5550 Test runs.
Download Our App