Root Was Too Funky When He Had To Be Patient

Root Was Too Funky When He Had To Be Patient

- Derek Pringle

Everyone loves a plan. But did Joe Root get carried away with them at the Gabba? Michael Vaughan didn’t seem to think so.

England’s former captain spent much of his commentary stints on BT Sport purring away at Root’s pro-action as if Einstein had suddenly been parachuted into some freckly, Yorkshire kid whose voice had not long broken.

Plans in cricket, like the technology that formulates them, have become increasingly complicated. Long gone are the scribbled notes on the back of a fag packet, though I see some football managers still prefer this method of ordering their thoughts.

Unsurprising then, that the elaborate held sway with Root in Brisbane, most notably with his funky fields and sudden switches of emphasis on Steve Smith, Australia’s captain.

Smith is currently the world’s No.1 Test batsman and he rode all that was thrown at him by Root and England with scarcely a frown.

Yes, England slowed him down but Tests are five-day marathons and the drag they placed on him had little overall effect other than to show him he could drop anchor, score a big hundred, and still see his side win by a distance.

England may not see it but Smith’s innings was a lesson to Root, if not in the art of setting plans, than in having the patience to see them through. Australia is not a place where you tend to run through batting line-ups quickly, unless there is extreme pace on show or the ball is moving lavishly, something it rarely does now that Shane Warne has retired.

Patience is paramount, especially from the bowlers.