Is the short form of cricket impacting on the quality of Test captaincy?
While one hesitates to suggest that Geoffrey Boycott is possibly right he makes an interesting point in his Telegraph column today about the England Test captaincy of Joe Root:
As much as we all love Joe it seems he does not have a feel for the nuances of the game. There have been crucial moments in all the matches and England have very rarely grasped them. Australia have always been mentally stronger and won the key moments.
Boycott admits that there is not an obvious replacement for Root but argues that often Test captaincy is only learnt in practice citing Michael Vaughan and Ray Illingworth (both Yorkshiremen obviously) as successful Test captains that had little previous experience of captaincy.
There may be a further point that Boycott doesn’t mention. Root is not the England short form captain but he does play a lot of short form white ball cricket and by definition not so much longer form red ball cricket.
Captaincy decisions in limited overs games are about things that make an immediate difference in a short time not something that plays out over several days as a battle of wills or mental strength with the opposing side. Even without being captain that must be part of Joe Root’s thinking in short form games.
Short form cricket is not a game of nuance but long form often is and here it must be said Boycott has a point.
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