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England captain is fighting for more than just the Ashes and discovered the attitude he needed at Headingley
It was hot in the sunshine at Headingley and by two o’clock a lot of the spectators were sheltering in the shadows under the Western Terrace. There was not a scrap of cover out in the middle then, where Joe Root, horribly exposed, was just starting out on one of the most important innings of his career. Root was playing to prove he is still one of the world’s best batsman, that he can be that even while he is leading the team and, more important still, for a shot at what could be his last, distant chance at winning an Ashes series as captain. He knew it, too, and would have had all that and plenty else running around his head all morning.
This is the eighth Test England have played against Australia under Root; they have lost five and drawn two of the other seven. With a record like that, Root knows there is no guarantee he will still be England captain by the time the team go back to Australia in 2021. Losing an Ashes series over there is one thing, being beaten back in England another. Right now there is no certainty he will still be in the job this winter, when England will have a new head coach with his own ideas about what has gone wrong with the team in the last few years and whether Root is the right captain to fix it. Continue reading...