"If I could go back in time, I'd go back and start my captaincy like Ben has" - Joe Root backs England to play with Bazball approach at Lord's
Former England Test captain Joe Root has backed the team's new approach —Bazball — to revitalizing the red-ball format even after losing the first Ashes Test against Australia. He also wished he had adopted a similar style of approach during his tenure.
England won just one out of 17 Tests between February 2021 and March 2022, which prompted Root to relinquish the leadership role. All-rounder Ben Stokes took over the reins from Root in June 2022, and the former's partnership with head coach Brendon McCullum bloomed England's Test fortunes.
England have won 11 out of 14 Tests under Stokes' captaincy. They narrowly lost to Australia in the Ashes opener despite brandishing their Bazball mantra over the five days.
Numerous experts have criticized England's decision to declare at 393 for 8 on Day 1 when Root was unbeaten on 118.
Root, however, recently supported his successor's ideology, saying that it was the one thing he would have liked to rectify during his own captaincy days.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Joe Root stated that the team had benefited a lot under Stokes.
"If I could go back in time, I'd go back and start my captaincy the way Ben has and try to get us to play in a similar manner to how he does it. It's far more exciting, it's far more interesting, and I think we're getting far more out of our team and our individuals," Joe Root said.
He added:
"We're playing better cricket to watch, we're producing better results overall. And if we are going to grow as a team, we can't just look at a game like that, with a couple of moments that went against us, and say: 'We need to go about things differently'."
"We feel like we ran that game for five days" - Joe Root
England were competitive in the first Test throughout the five days until they lost to Australia in the final hour of Day 5.
The hosts failed to pick the last two Australian wickets with the new ball, with Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon embracing patience to get their team over the line in a 281-run chase in the fourth innings.
Speaking on how England needed to amplify their intensity to bounce back in the second Test at Lord's, Joe Root said:
"If anything we need to double down on the way we're doing it, completely back ourselves, and make sure we get those one percenters right at Lord's."
"That's what the exciting thing is, we feel like we ran that game for five days and we might be on the wrong end of it but we've still got nowhere near the perfect game. There's still so much more in that dressing room to get excited about."
What more can we say about Joe Root? 🤯
All the boundaries from his 118* 👏 https://t.co/ERtJ4gftyd
Australia currently lead the five-match Test series 1-0 and they aim for their first Test series win in England since 2001. The second Ashes Test will start on June 28 at Lord's.