How will Joe Root be remembered as England captain?

The end of any era brings with it attempts to define legacies and examine impacts, and Joe Root’s departure as England Test captain is no different.

But one of the challenges is that, despite occupying only a little under five years, Root’s reign outsizes all other England captains by a distance in basically every metric, both good and bad. In his 64 Test matches as captain (the most for England), Root scored 5295 runs (the most for England) at an average of 46.44, a record that included 14 Test centuries 26 half-centuries and sees him fifth in the list of all-time runs scored by Test captains. He won more games (27) and lost more than any other England captain (26). So any way you want to argue it, you can. It’s worth it, therefore, to go back through the highs and the lows, in an attempt to figure out how Root should be remembered as a Test captain?

Root took over as captain from Alastair Cook in 2017 at the age of 26, following a 4-0 defeat in India, and immediately his time in the role got off to a dream start. He scored 190 on his captaincy debut against South Africa at Lord’s, a match that finished with a 211-run win for England.

His first summer in charge would finish with two series victories as England would defeat South Africa 3-1 and beat West Indies 2-1. Root would also register at least a half-century in each of his first six matches in charge in a special start to life as captain.

But the honeymoon period would come to an end in dramatic fashion, as England suffered a chastening 4-0 Ashes defeat, a series which ended with Root scoring a battling 58 despite suffering from an illness that had caused him to be hospitalised overnight.

Despite the loss to Australia and an early-year series defeat away to New Zealand, 2018 would turn out to be a highly successful year for Root and arguably be one of the high points of his tenure.

A fantastic 4-1 series win came against Virat Kohli’s India – a victory that was signed off with a Root century that played out in the shadow of Cook’s farewell – was followed up by a historic 3-0 win away to Sri Lanka, a performance that was their first 3-0 clean sweep away from home since 1963 and a victory that was defined by England’s tactical decision to play three frontline spinners in Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, and Jack Leach, with a bevy of all-rounders driving their charge. Root himself made a century in the second Test of the series to seal a series win, with two hundreds in three games seemingly confirming that he had left his conversion woes in the past.

But the highs turned to lows as a difficult 2019 followed with a series defeat to the West Indies, a drawn home Ashes series, and another series defeat away to New Zealand.

It was during this time that Root also suffered the first real loss of form with the bat in his career as a 19-run stretch from 2018 through to the end of the English 2019 summer saw him average just 33.33.

A brief but definite return to form came in New Zealand, as Root scored the first double-hundred of his captaincy, registering 226 in a drawn match at Hamilton. However, Root’s captaincy would attract some criticism on this tour as Jofra Archer bowled 42 overs in an innings (more than either Broad has ever bowled in his career) as New Zealand piled on 600. It wouldn’t be long until Archer’s injuries would begin to flare up.

2019 ended with an illness-ravaged England soundly beaten in the first Test in South Africa, and Root’s captaincy seemingly hanging by a thread. But with 2020 would start of the most successful run of Root’s captaincy began as England racked up four series wins on the bounce. First, a brilliant 3-1 win in South Africa was then followed up with victories against West Indies and Pakistan during the Covid summer of 2020. Another victory away to Sri Lanka would follow at the start of 2021 where Root would register his highest score as captain, 228.

The South Africa series in particular would be a great moment for Root, a victory he would credit at the time as the greatest achievement of his time in the role as England won the series despite having been regularly afflicted with injuries and illness. At one point, the players had even referred to the tour as “cursed”.

If 2019 had been the low point of Root’s batting as England captain, 2021 was the high. An average of 61.00, six centuries, and 1,708 runs across the year. It was the third-most runs scored by a player in a calendar year in Test history, behind only Viv Richards (1,710) and Mohammad Yousuf (1,788).

But whilst Root’s individual record was the best it had ever been, the team’s was at its worst. England would beat India in Chennai, featuring yet another Root double century, but from that point, the team went into a tailspin and just one win followed in 17 Test matches. Five series came and went without victory as England lost away to India, home to New Zealand, trailed at home to India, suffered another 4-0 Ashes defeat, and lost 1-0 to the West Indies, a series that would ultimately prove one too many for Root, as he would announce his resignation shortly after.

So what should be made of that? Root’s highs were special and deserve not to be forgotten, and few have managed to rediscover their best form with the bat after initially struggling with the leadership. Fans will fondly remember his statesmanship in tricky circumstances, and though it wasn’t flawless, Root was often asked to be the face of unpopular ECB decisions he had had little control over. Not an unmitigated disaster, nor an unqualified success, Root’s tenure may just be remembered as someone who tried his best and kept going through it all. Most will agree he’s earned some time back in the ranks, piling on runs and chasing every record he can.