It may be the time Joe Root gives up captaincy of England: Geoffrey Boycott

England have been going through a torrid time of late. While it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that they have been completely outplayed in all three departments by Australia in the ongoing Ashes 2021-22, their Test captain Joe Root is now feeling the heat.

The hosts went on to win the third Test by an innings and 14 runs and thus, have retained the urn once again. This led to several cricket experts and former cricketers blaming the English Test skipper. Former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott happens to be one of them and he openly criticized Root recently.

The legend felt that the 31-year-old should step down as England captain. He went on to say that he was “Embarrassed” to see the visitors lose the Ashes within 12 days. Thus, he was vocal about Root’s shortcomings as a leader.

Will Joe Root please stop saying Australia are not much better than us? says Boycott

“Now Australia are 3-0 up and the Ashes have gone, will Root please stop saying Australia are not much better than us? I don’t mind him living in cuckoo land but stop trying to kid us,” Boycott wrote in his column in The Telegraph. “If he really believes what he says then maybe it is time he gave up the captaincy of the England cricket team. The facts are staring us all in the face, except Joe doesn’t want to see it. England can’t bat. Our bowling is ordinary.” he added.

The 81-year-old then went on to blame the right-handed batter for his tactical errors and termed them as wrong. He cited a few examples where his decisions backfired, such as electing to field first on a seam-friendly wicket like the Gabba and not picking the veteran pace duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad in that very Test.

“It’s every cricketer’s dream to captain England and Joe has had 59 Test matches to mould and stamp his authority on this set of players. He has had 13 Tests against Australia with only two wins and nine losses,” he said. It is to be noted that the batting maestro is yet to win the Ashes as a captain.