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'Get out': Calls for Joe Root to be sacked as England sink to new low

Pictured here, Joe Root is facing mounting calls to stand down as England skipper.
Joe Root is facing mounting calls to stand down as England skipper after slumping to an embarrassing new low. Pic: Getty

Pressure is mounting on England captain Joe Root to step aside or be sacked as skipper after his side's latest humiliating Test series defeat.

England concluded a miserable northern hemisphere winter with a ten-wicket defeat to West Indies in Grenada, taking the third Test only 90 minutes into the fourth day.

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The tourists were dismissed for 120 leaving West Indies only 28 runs to secure a 1-0 series victory. They raced to victory in 29 balls, skipper Kraigg Brathwaite making 20no.

West Indies first win for 11 Tests was England's fifth defeat of the northern hemisphere winter following the 4-0 drubbing in Australia, further increasing the pressure on captain Joe Root.

The 31-year-old has been captain since 2017 and has a record 27 wins, but England have won once in their last 17 Tests.

However, Root said: "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 what I can.

"I feel like the group are very much behind me, we're doing a lot of really good things and we just need to turn that into results now."

However, several retired England legends say Root is kidding himself if he thinks he's the right man to lead the national side.

Not since their first ever Test match in 1877 have England gone five series (excluding one-off Tests) without recording a win, with calls inevitably ramping up for Root to be replaced as captain.

“Joe Root may have won more Test matches than any England captain but only one of those victories has come in his last 18 games now and the time has come for a change at the top,” Ex-England skipper Nasser Hussain wrote in a column for the Daily Mail.

“Root is a world-class batsman and a very likeable lad but I feel he has never had that instinctive feel for the game as captain.

“If Joe does not decide to step down himself the decision should be taken out of his hands.”

England legends Michael Vaughan and Geoffrey Boycott also said it was time for Root to step aside for the good of the team.

“Joe has to ask himself, does he have the energy to drive himself for the next year and a half? Are the team listening? The evidence suggests not,” Vaughan said.

Boycott added: “Quite honestly, it is obvious to me there needs to be big changes. The coaches are not doing their jobs and I want to ask them a question are they telling the players the right things or are the players not listening? Either way it is not working.

“Same with Root: It is not working. He is not getting the response from the players. Time to change. We are bottom of the lot. That is not bad luck. Got to face facts. He is the captain at head of it and if players are not responding so you need to change.”

Seen here, England captain Joe Root looking frustrated during his side's Test series defeat against the West Indies.
England captain Joe Root is a man under serious pressure after his side's latest embarrassing Test series defeat. Pic: Getty

England go from bad to worse

After the Ashes debacle coach Chris Silverwood and director of cricket Ashley Giles were fired. Neither have yet been replaced and a decision is unlikely to be made on Root until they are.

England had resumed at 8-103, but that was effectively 8-10 having conceded a 93-run first innings deficit after West Indies put on 120 for their last two wickets.

England's last two wickets had added 114 themselves in their first innings, and a repeat was required were the tourists to have any chance of setting a defendable target.

Initial signs were promising as Chris Woakes and Jack Leach played carefully, but the breakthrough was made by an astonishing catch from Jason Holder. Woakes (19) clipped Kemar Roach's first ball of the morning off his legs and Holder made a very sharp reaction catch at leg slip to end his 102-minute vigil.

Thirteen balls later Jack Leach (4) edged Roach pushing forward and England were all out for 120. DRS was required, overturning a decision for the 20th time in a series in which the umpires have struggled.

Roach finished with 2-10 off 9.2 overs but the real damage had been done on Saturday by Kyle Mayers who took 5-18 off 17 overs.

The first two Tests, played on unresponsive pitches in Antigua and Barbados, were drawn. On a more difficult surface in Grenada England's top seven made just 127 runs in both innings in total, of which Alex Lees scored 62.

The one piece of good news for England was that fast bowler Mark Wood, who went home from the tour after the first Test, has had successful elbow surgery on his elbow. He is expected to bowl again in May.

with AAP

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