Woakes backs Root to remain England captain despite Ashes debacle

Melbourne, Dec 29 (SocialNews.XYZ) All-rounder Chris Woakes on Wednesday backed under-fire Joe Root to continue as the England Test captain despite their crushing defeat to Australia in the ongoing 2021-22 Ashes series.

England suffered an innings and 14-run loss to Australia on Tuesday in Melbourne, giving away the five-test Ashes series with two Tests to spare.

The 30-year-old Root declined to answer questions about his own future as England's captain after defeat at the MCG.

He will become England's most experienced Test captain during the fourth Test in Sydney, going clear of Alastair Cook by leading them for the 60th time. But, his side has lost nine of their last 12 Tests and have been thrashed in six consecutive games overseas.

Asked if the England team would back Root's continuation as skipper, the England all-rounder said that he feels like star batter will continue as captain.

"Absolutely. Joe is a great cricketer, he's got a great cricket brain and I think his record as England captain is actually pretty good. Definitely it feels like Joe will continue. Hopefully he will," Woakes was quoted as saying by 'ESPNcricinfo'.

Though he has failed to produce good results as skipper, Root has had a record-breaking year with the bat, as he finished the calendar year with 1,708 runs - the third-highest after Mohammad Yousuf (1,788) and Viv Richards (1,710).

"It's clear that the captaincy isn't having an effect on his batting, which a lot of the time with captains can be the case. The fact that he's scoring the runs he is, is great for the team," Woakes said.

"It would be great if we could help him out with that and score a few more runs around him. Joe is a world-class player who has obviously had a fantastic year. When a guy bats as well as he has you would expect us to put in a lot stronger performances than we have," he added.

Source: IANS