Joe Root: England can leave a legacy by taking different approach to Australia

By Sports Desk July 04, 2023

England batter Joe Root suggested the controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow in last week’s Lord’s Test could harm Australia’s “legacy” in the game.

The fallout from Alex Carey’s dismissal of his fellow wicketkeeper at Lord’s is showing no signs of slowing down and the issue has even reached Prime Ministerial level with both Rishi Sunak and Anthony Albanese wading into the debate.

England captain Ben Stokes made it clear at the end of the game that he would not have pursued the appeal, with Bairstow clearly treating the ball as dead after he ducked the final ball of a Cameron Green over, and his predecessor has backed up those words.

Root, who captained his country for five and a half years and knows plenty about the heat of the Ashes moment, expressed surprise at how much oxygen the issue was getting but made his own position clear ahead of Thursday’s third Test.

“There has been a lot said… I can’t believe how much has been covered on it. But if I try to put myself in that situation, I think I would have dealt with it very differently,” he said.

“I think Ben spoke very well on it. As a team we want to play our cricket in a certain way and leave a certain legacy. Clearly, it has been very different how we have gone about Test cricket in the past 18 months in terms of how we play our cricket physically, if you like. I also think we play our cricket in a slightly different way in that respect as well.”

Asked if Australia’s conduct had tarnished their attempts to rebuild reputations following the ‘Sandpapergate’ scandal five years ago, Root added: “I don’t think it’s really for me to say to be honest. I care about England cricket and this team and what we’re about as a team. We all know how we want to play our cricket and we’ll continue to do it that way.

“There’s always going to be respect there. You’re allowed to disagree on certain things and see the game differently and clearly that is the case on this topic.”

Yorkshire have said they will be paying particular attention to security arrangements for the match following angry scenes at Lord’s, both in the stands and in the MCC Long Room. Three members were suspended pending an investigation and Root called for his hometown ground to keep their support on the right side of the line.

“Support England, that’s the most important thing. You come to support your nations and it doesn’t need to go beyond that,” he said.

“It should never go beyond that. Everyone should be here to enjoy the cricket on the field. It shouldn’t be about anything other than that. Come here and support your team to the best of your ability, we’ll play to the best of ours.”

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    "Well, the guys are really looking forward to it. We haven't played Test cricket for a little while, so the guys are excited to get out there. You know it's a ground we love playing at; we enjoy playing here, and you know the guys are ready and raring to go,” Brathwaite said in a pre-game conference.

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    “Everything that’s gone is history. I mean, we're playing against a talented Bangladesh team now, so what's gone, is gone. We are obviously all looking forward to coming tomorrow and starting well in whatever we do,” he stated firmly.

    “We got to focus on tomorrow morning and starting well; that's on our minds. Again, what is gone is gone, and we look forward to this challenge of playing good Test cricket,” Brathwaite noted.

    That said, Brathwaite pointed to the invaluable presence of seasoned pacer Kemar Roach, both for his bowling prowess and his off-field mentorship. Roach’s devastating spell was pivotal in Bangladesh’s infamous 2018 collapse.

    “Kemar is a very experienced player and obviously a Test bowler. On the field, he's great, but off the field, the information he shares with us is phenomenal. So having him around, I think, is very important for this team because on the field we know his statistics and he is playing here in the Caribbean as well.

    “So I would say look forward to that. But, you know, on and off the field, I think Kemar is a true example of a leader for the West Indies going into this particular Test match,” the Barbadian said of his compatriot.

    Interestingly, both Bangladesh and West Indies currently sit at the foot of the ICC World Test Championship standings in eighth and ninth positions, with both also coming off recent defeats to South Africa.

    Despite that, Brathwaite expressed confidence in his batters, many of whom have recently shown form in the regional Super50 competition, as he highlighted the Caribbean side’s determination to finish the cycle on a high.

    “Obviously, we looked at the points as a team, and we know we got four games left in this cycle and we could still pretty much come high up in the table. We just got to believe, and as I said, we are playing against a talented Bangladesh team, so it won't be easy, and we got to come ready and raring to go tomorrow morning,” Brathwaite said.

    “I think they (batsmen) are in a good space; a few of the guys have played in the Super50 tournament and got some scores, so that was good to see. It's just all about that belief now; we’ve had a difficult year thus far, but we also had some good performances with the bat. It's just to draw from those performances as much as possible; we got four innings here, and it's just to bat and give it 100%,” he ended.

    Meanwhile, Bangladesh enters the series missing key players like Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, and captain Najmul Hossain Shanto. However, all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who will serve as stand-in captain, believes the team’s younger players have the opportunity to step up.

    “It’s tough without some of our senior players, but we’ve worked hard in practice and are focused on playing positive cricket. We still have a good side right now. Some of the young players coming have a good opportunity to perform well in these conditions, so we actually believe that we can play well and we can come strongly,” Hasan Miraz shared.

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    Bangladesh: Mehidy Hasan Miraz (Capt), Shadman Islam, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Zakir Hasan, Mominul Haque, Mahidul Islam Ankon, Litton Das (wkt), Jaker Ali Anik, Taijul Islam, Shoriful Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Nahid Rana, Hasan Murad

     

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