Joe Root on Sunday (December 28) offered his absolute commitment to the Brendon McCullum-Rob Key regime, crediting the ‘outstanding’ duo for the individual and overall improvement in the team.
Root’s comments
would come as a boost for the team management, who are under heavy scrutiny since England allowed Australia to canter to a 3-0 win in the 2025-26 Ashes after the first three matches. Coach McCullum’s uber-aggressive batting philosophy was blamed for a couple of those defeats, while team director Key has been accused of being too lenient while backing non-performers.
Greats like Geoffrey Boycott have called for McCullum to be sacked, with fingers also pointed at captain Ben Stokes.
“In terms of the playing group, we’re absolutely committed to the management,” said Root. “They’ve been outstanding. You look at the group of players that we’ve got and you look at the guys that were involved in the team when I was captain, four years ago, and you look at their records individually, and every single one of them has improved as a player. This team has improved as a team. So I think it would be silly for the amount of hard work and things that have been done.”
The pressure was at its peak leading up to the fourth Test in Melbourne, where England players were under extra scrutiny due to the details of their mid-series holiday between the second and third match going viral in the media. A four-wicket win at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) to secure a first Test triumph here in over a decade and take the series to 3-1 helped, too, even though it left a ‘weird’ taste for Root.
“It feels weird,” the former captain said of his first Test win in the country. “It’s disappointing that we’ve lost the series, but it’s really important that we managed to get the right side of the result here, and it’s something to build on into the next game as well.”
“Of course, whenever you lose a series, it’s very disappointing. And every time you go out there, you’re doing everything you can to be on the right side of the result. I didn’t want to come here and lose another Ashes series. But unfortunately, sometimes you get outplayed, you make a few mistakes, and against good opposition, they hurt you. That’s what happened on those occasions. But it was really important that we responded well to that, and when we got our opportunities this week, we did that.”
