Joe Root backs Harry Brook to do ‘wonderful things’ as England captain

Joe Root believes Harry Brook will do “wonderful things” as England captain.

Brook shared an 81-run stand with Root to help guide England towards a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka on Saturday, their first ODI win away from home in 12 matches.

The England skipper began this tour by apologising to his team-mates and admitting he was lucky to still be captain after getting involved in an altercation with a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand during England’s last white-ball engagement in October.

News of that incident, where Brook said he was “clocked”, emerged following England’s troubled Ashes tour.

Root wants Brook to be able to learn from the incident and believes it can help his growth as a leader.

“Harry’s a great fella and he’s going to be an incredible captain and is someone who clearly feels bad about what happened,” Root said.

“He’s apologised, he’s taken his punishment and he’s desperate to take this team forward.

“I think it’s a natural feeling for anyone that’s made a mistake is that you feel like you’ve let people down.

“I think he’s going to be a brilliant England captain and he’s going to do wonderful things in an England shirt, both as a player and as a leader.

“So I’m fully behind him and want to see him move past it and learn from it and grow as a person and as a captain off the back of it.”
Victory in the second ODI in Colombo helped England level the three-match series. It was set up by an excellent bowling display, where Brook shrewdly deployed six spinners, before Root’s 75 and the captain’s 42 broke the back of the chase.

“He played what was required and it was a very different innings to what you might expect him to play but in many ways it won us the game,” Root added.

“I think that shows good leadership and someone that really cares about the group and making sure that he wants to take us to further down the line.”

Root made two scores of over 150 during the Ashes, ending his wait for a century in Australia, but England’s pre-series hopes of a first win Down Under since 2010-11 ended in a 4-1 drubbing.

The former captain is keen to reflect properly on the defeat after heading to Sri Lanka just over a week after returning home.

“I haven’t really had time to mull it over,” he said. “I think after this tour I’m going to get a couple of months to sit back and look at it properly and probably emotionlessly.

“You spend so much time trying to achieve something out there and when it doesn’t go well it’s easy to look at things through a certain lens.

“It clearly hurts. Of course we went into that series expecting to win and to perform and come away with a lot more than what we did.

“But I could sit here and get wound up and angry about it and probably say something that I don’t necessarily mean or I could give myself some time to properly reflect on it.”

The nature of the defeat, coupled with off-field issues, have raised questions over the long-term future of head coach Brendon McCullum.

But Root joined Brook in describing the New Zealander as one of the best coaches of his career and says the environment still feels the same as when McCullum first arrived.

“I wouldn’t say it’s particularly different,” Root added. “I’m still having the best time of my life. Obviously, it’s more fun when you’re winning.

“I think Baz is one of the best coaches I’ve ever worked with. If you look at my own personal game, the time that he’s been coach, it’s improved tenfold.”