England captain Joe Root has stepped down from the position of England Test skipper with immediate effect. The decision comes after they were handed defeats in Ashes and West Indies tour. Nonetheless, he remains the leader in winning the most number of matches as England Men’s Test captain. His 27 victories put him ahead of Michael Vaughan (26), Sir Alastair Cook, and Sir Andrew Strauss (24 each).
After being appointed as Cook’s successor in 2017, Root led the side to a number of famous series victories, including a 4-1 home series win over India in 2018 and a 3-1 triumph away to South Africa in 2020. In 2018 he became the first England Men’s Captain to win a Test series in Sri Lanka since 2001, a feat he went on to repeat with a 2-0 victory in Sri Lanka in 2021.
He is already England’s second-highest Test run-scorer of all time behind only Cook and scored 14 centuries as Captain. His tally of 5,295 runs as skipper is the highest by any England captain and puts him 5th in the all-time list behind only Graeme Smith, Alan Border, Ricky Ponting and Virat Kohli.
Root’s decision comes after the 1-0 Test series defeat to West Indies last month, and a 4-0 Ashes loss to Australia.
“After returning from the Caribbean tour and having time to reflect, I have decided to step down as England men’s Test captain,” Root said.
“It has been the most challenging decision I have had to make in my career but having discussed this with my family and those closest to me, I know the timing is right.
“I am immensely proud to have captained my country and will look back on the past five years with enormous pride. It has been an honour to have done the job and to have been a custodian of what is the pinnacle of English cricket.”
Root, 31, holds the record for the highest number of wins as England’s Test captain, his 27 putting him one ahead of Michael Vaughan and three ahead of Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss.
But the past 12 months have been dismal. After winning their opening three Tests of 2021, England have won just one since, losing 11 and drawing five of their past 17.
