Joe Root admits he did not deliver during England’s Ashes defeat
Written by News on 23/02/2018
Joe Root has admitted he did not deliver during England’s Ashes series defeat, but says he wants to bounce back on their tour of New Zealand, live on Sky Sports.
Root captained England during an Ashes series for the first time but was overshadowed by Steve Smith, his Australian counterpart, as they lost the series 4-0.
England have the chance to move on from their Ashes loss when their tour of New Zealand starts on Sunday, with the first Test scheduled for next month.
Asked if he feels he did not do himself justice down under, Root said: “Yes I think so. You look at their senior players, someone like Steve Smith and the amount of runs he scored in a big series like that.
“As a captain and senior player you have to stand up and deliver and I wasn’t able to do that.
“That’s not sitting well with me right now and coming into a new series in New Zealand, you want to make sure you bounce back from that and set the example for the rest of the guys.”
Despite their heavy defeat at the hands of their biggest rivals, Root believes England can take some solace from the performances in Australia from some of their newer additions to the Test team.
Root said: “I think there are some good things that have come out of this tour.
“I think we’ve got great depth and a lot of talent under the current side. It was an opportunity for those guys to stand up and try to make their case in an England shirt.
“Craig Overton came into the side and what a start he had to his international career. His first wicket was Steve Smith and he probably looked our best bowler until he went down [injured] in Perth.
“Dawid Malan as well – he played fantastically well. Mark Stoneman, for the first three Test matches, showed promise of a really good international opening batsman.”
Watch England take on New Zealand in the first of five one-day international, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 12.30am on Sunday.
(c) Sky News 2018: Joe Root admits he did not deliver during England’s Ashes defeat
