England captain Joe Root has attempted to take the positives from England’s 1-0 Test series defeat in West Indies, crediting his side’s “attitude throughout”.
The loss extended England’s poor form in the longest format. Root’s side have won one and lost 11 of their last 17 Tests, and have failed to win any of their last five Test series. While the result in one of those, against India last summer, is yet to be decided, England currently trail 2-1 with the final game to be played this summer.
However, Root insisted that there were “many good things” for England to take from the tour.
“I thought the attitude throughout the whole thing has been brilliant,” he told BT Sport. “I think in that respect we’ve definitely made big improvements, and that has to continue. There are so many good things that we can take away from this. Of course we’ve come here to win and we’ve not, and that’s frustrating, that’s disappointing. But if we’re going to keep learning and keep growing as a team, and if we’re going to start winning, we’ve got to keep that approach.
“We’ve got to keep doing the stuff that we did so well in the first two games and parts of this one. I think one thing we have done, we’ve learned more about some of the new players, there have been two [three] debutants come in, they’ve shown promise. They are at the start of their journeys now and that’s very exciting. We will take things away from here, but it’s frustrating.”
England had the better of the first two Tests, although both were drawn, finishing six and five wickets from victory in the first and second encounters respectively. However, Root’s position has captain has come under renewed pressure following England’s Grenada defeat. He restated his desire to remain in his current role.
“I think I made it quite clear at the start of this game and throughout this tour, I’m very passionate about trying to take this team forward. I will control all that I can. I don’t think it’s ever in your hands, is it? I feel like the group are very much behind me, we’re doing a lot of good things. We just need to turn that into results now.”
