'He's a great cricketer with great cricketing brain' - Chris Woakes backs skipper Joe Root after Ashes setback

England lost the third Ashes Test by an innings and 14 runs after losing the first two Tests. The English team has failed to win the Ashes in Australia again. England’s performance in the longest format of the game has been the worst this year.

Joe Root was appointed the captain of the English side in 2017 and has failed to win the last three Ashes since taking this position. The fourth Test in Sydney will be the 60th for Root as captain and he will be surpassing Alastair Cook, who also captained England in 59 matches.

Under Root’s leadership, England has won 27 matches, more than any other English captain. But, the team has lost 24 matches under his leadership, which is also a record. Meanwhile, all-rounder Chris Woakes has backed Root as the captain of the English team in an interview with BCC Sport.

“Joe is a great cricketer with a great cricket brain. Hopefully he can continue,” he said.

England’s batters have not batted well around Joe Root: Chris Woakes

The England team has struggled to score runs this year. But, Root has performed really well, as he has made 1708 runs in 2021. It is the third-highest runs scored by a batter in a calendar year, standing behind just Mohammad Yousuf and Vivian Richards. The fact that Rory Burns has scored the second-most runs this year, which is 530 runs, speak volumes about Root’s dominance in his team’s batting line-up.

Woakes mentioned that English batters have not been able to score runs around Root and expects that the batters will put up some strong performance than they have this year in the next two Tests.

“We haven’t been able to bat well around him,” said Woakes. “You’d expect us to probably put in a lot stronger performances than we have. I’m sure Joe will have many more years like he’s already had and hopefully we can bat better around him.”

Woakes has also said that Root has the backing of the players and the management. Woakes was also asked about the future of Chris Silverwood, who is the current head coach of the team. Under his coaching, England has won only one of the last 12 Tests.

“It’s hard for us to focus on people,” said Woakes. “Who am I to talk about people’s futures other than my own?”