My advice to Joe Root as he becomes captain again

Normally England captaincies follow a pattern. When you get the job, you are nowhere near ready for it, because you cannot fully understand all the little responsibilities that come with it until you have done it. You take a year or two to get a handle on it, then do it for a couple more years, by which point you are knackered, so you finish up.

So in a strange way, Joe Root returns to the job next week more ready than any England captain before him. He has led the team more than anyone, in a seriously trying era through Covid and other issues. He has won more games and lost more games than any other England captain. He had some excellent times as captain, and some very disappointing times.

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He has not beaten Australia, but has pulled off some memorable series wins – at home to India, away to South Africa and in Sri Lanka twice. By the end of the Caribbean tour in 2022 he looked a broken person. He has spoken about that, and so has Ben Stokes. He walks in with eyes wide open.

My key piece of advice to Joe would be to learn from each one of those experiences. Use those good times, but learn from the bad ones. He has been a master of that with the bat, solving problems and continually getting better throughout his career.

Being three years older than any other player, and having so many more caps, Root will have natural authority within the group. Use that to your advantage, and lead by example. Clearly the most important area he can do that is by dominating with the bat. That is your best form of leadership. Without his runs, England will struggle. He is the glue for the team.

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When it comes to his judgment and decision-making, the early signs have been good.

They have scrapped the curfew, which is common sense. Root and Stephen Fleming, the new coach, have recognised that if you have the right people in your squad and a strong ethic within the group, you do not need a curfew. If you keep an eye out for your mates and are managed well, there should not be any problems.

It is about understanding that once you are an England cricketer, you are always an England cricketer, and you have responsibilities to represent your team at all times. That does not mean you cannot let your hair down after a win, but there are ways to do that without getting in trouble. It should be perfectly obvious not to be out after midnight in the days leading up to a game, or during it. That is a performance issue, pure and simple.

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England have lost their prized all-rounder, so they will have to work out how to balance the side. But the squad looks mature, with some hardened cricketers such as Dan Lawrence and Sam Cook back in. Cook and Ollie Robinson's presence means it is not all about pace. Most of those in the squad have proved themselves domestically.

But if you look at that squad, it is hard to conclude that there will not be aspects of the job Root finds harder this time. The team are not as good as they were before. He had an all-rounder in Stokes, and to a lesser extent Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes. He had a former captain alongside him in Sir Alastair Cook, and a pair of opening bowlers whose wicket hauls for England will probably never be matched.

Now, the attack is promising but largely unproven. I look at Jofra Archer. Can Joe learn from mistakes of the past and manage him in a way to bring the best out of him? That is not going to be long spells. It is encouraging him to give his all at exactly the right moment.

Joe made mistakes tactically in his first stint. And there were some worrying signs at the Oval during the second Test against New Zealand. Yes, that was a young team and not really his team, but there were mistakes that fell at his door, especially not using Archer on the second morning. He is going to have to improve.

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I do not think we have seen anywhere near the best of Archer in Test cricket. His stats bear that out. He averages 29, which is nowhere good enough for the talent and the ability he has. Look at the great bowlers of the era – Pat Cummins, Kagiso Rabada, Jasprit Bumrah. They average in the low 20s, or below 20 in Bumrah's case. That is the standard for Archer.

For Joe to inspire a team to win in all conditions, he must have two or three bowlers he can rely on when the pressure arrives – players he can throw the ball to and say "get me out of a hole".

Who are those guys? Josh Tongue, Robinson, Gus Atkinson, Archer – all are hugely impressive. When they have an excellent day, they are superb. But those excellent days need to come more often. He needs to find a way to unlock them.

Word 'draw' is music to my ears

The thing I was most encouraged to hear Joe say in his interview the other day was that he did not want to impose a specific style on his team. I am bored of brands. I was entertained for a couple of years by Bazball, but I now just want to watch winning cricket. What does the game situation require you to do? Go and do it. What style of cricket do the best team in the world play? You never truly know because they adapt and change for the given day.

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I do not want the media inventing some moniker with "-ball" in the next few weeks, and I do not care what it looks like or if I am especially entertained. Just win as many moments as you can. Win moments, win hours, win sessions, win days, and suddenly you will find you are winning more Test matches.

In recent times, England have been too boom or bust. When they have lost a session, they have done it in an horrific fashion that has lost them a Test.

I liked also that he used the word "draw". There will not suddenly be loads of draws with a batting line-up like this. They are not going to score slowly, because there are not many traditional-tempo batsmen in the side – Root and Emilio Gay, maybe. But England need to impress on those dynamic, ultra-modern batsmen that they have to soak up pressure every now and again. If the ball is hooping around, do not go chasing it. If a team box you into a corner, where the win is off the table, battle hard for the draw.

The big question the batting group has to answer, including Root himself, is how to counter the keeper-up strategy that New Zealand nailed. Every team will try it. The batsmen need to meet and come up with a plan. I would say it involves trusting their defence, and only occasionally trying a trick or two. Previously it has been a shot a ball, which leaves no surprise factor.

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None of this is rocket science, just good, hard Test cricket, and playing the situation. If Root can persuade his team to do that, they will find themselves back on track soon.

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