The final night was Harry Brook’s, but Joe Root still took the series, as he usually does in Sri Lanka. It was here that he began his stratospheric run against the red ball, a double hundred in Galle in 2021, the first of 24 Test tons over the next five years. Go back to 2014, his first visit to the country with England, and there is an unbeaten 50-over century at Pallekele, a trick he repeated in Colombo on Tuesday.
As Root and Brook sat in the Premadasa outfield after England’s 53-run victory in the decisive one-day international, it was the former’s shirt that a supporter repeatedly clamored for from the stands, regardless of what the captain had just done. Local admiration is expected as the 35-year-old has never left a tour of Sri Lanka without at least one winning match.
“I have found a good method of controlling these surfaces,” Root said in his subdued closing remarks for the series, after finishing with 247 runs in three innings. The reverse sweeps were a highlight in the third one-dayer, while his overall timing was the deciding factor in the second, when even Brook struggled for clean contact. A collapse followed his dismissal for 61 in the first. Throw in a few wickets with his off-breaks, even if they were tailenders at the death, and the numbers get better.
But that was it for winter. As has been the case for almost seven years, Root is not part of the England T20 squad as they begin a three-match series in Pallekele on Friday before moving to India for the World Cup next week. Was he ever eligible for the tournament? “Probably not, no,” Brook said Tuesday night. “He’s obviously such a phenomenal player, under any circumstances, he’s done it everywhere. Unfortunately, he wasn’t quite in the mix.”
Minutes later, Root added: “I’m very aware of where I probably sit in the international team in that format. I don’t think I’ll give that up, but I know I’m a long way from it. That’s part of the game. Those guys fully deserve to be ahead of me, they’re an incredible group of players.”
He is right about the latter. It is a batting line-up that features three of the top five who played against Pakistan in the victorious 2022 final. There is a lot of experience in India – Phil Salt and Jos Buttler have been particularly brilliant in recent IPL seasons – including reaching 300 against South Africa last summer.
But there’s always room for nuance in a major tournament, and power isn’t everything. The Men’s T20 World Cup finals are not distance events; no party has ever reached 180. When England defeated Pakistan in Melbourne just over three years ago, they were grateful for Ben Stokes’ 49-ball 52 which kept his nerve to see things through.
Short manualStokes joins the England Lions coaching team
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But the 34-year-old will be part of Andrew Flintoff’s coaching staff for T20 and 50-over white-ball series against Pakistan Shaheens and continue his rehabilitation work in the UAE.
The coaching team – who will attend all or part of the tour – also includes Neil McKenzie, Sarah Taylor, Neil Killeen, Moeen Ali and Amar Rashid, while it will be Troy Cooley’s first tour since returning to the England and Wales Cricket Board as elite national men’s bowling leader.
Spinner Moeen will join the Lions as coach for the first time, while Jordan Cox and Dan Mousley will captain the T20 and 50-over sides respectively.
The Lions will play a three-match, five-50-over T20 series, their first away white-ball series since visiting Sri Lanka in 2022.
Lions T20 squad: J Cox (Essex, captain), S Baker (Hampshire), L Benkenstein (Essex), J Coles (Sussex), S Cook (Essex), S Currie (Hampshire), C Harrison (Northamptonshire), E Jack (Hampshire), S Mahmood (Lancashire), B McKinney (Durham), T Moores (Nottinghamshire), D Mousley (Warwickshire), M Revis (Yorkshire), W Smeed (Somerset), N Sowter (Durham), M Stanley (Lancashire), A Tribe (Glamorgan).
Lions 50-over selection: D Mousley (Warwickshire, captain), S Baker (Hampshire), L Benkenstein (Essex), S Cook (Essex), J Coles (Sussex), S Currie (Hampshire), C Harrison (Northamptonshire), E Jack (Hampshire), B McKinney (Durham), L Patterson-White (Nottinghamshire), M Potts (Durham), M Revis (Yorkshire), J Rew (Somerset), M Stanley (Lancashire), A Tribe (Glamorgan), J Wharton (Yorkshire).
Root knows the situation well. His half-century from 33 balls threatened to be the winning knock of the 2016 final against West Indies in Kolkata until Carlos Brathwaite intervened in the dying moments. Even as the limits in the 20-over game continue to increase, there is room for an anchor when everything is on the line. Root fits the role, there as the nerveless nurdler for the backend of the tournament and the 150-person chase.
Perhaps he could have been brought in from the cold in a similar manner to Stokes in 2022, when the all-rounder had not played T20 cricket in over a year. Instead, Root will be watching with admiration as the World Cup squad has been selected ahead of the Sri Lanka series. “When I look at that squad of players, it’s a great team,” he added.
His tour is over and that ends a fascinating season abroad. Twenty-nine runs in three ODIs against New Zealand were followed by just eight more in the Ashes opener. Pat Cummins, his great nemesis, picked him off twice in the series’ only appearance in the series, and the overall narrative did not change when Root left his fourth Ashes tour still waiting for collective glory.
But he ended the noise about that missing Test hundred in Australia, turned one into two, and at least shared a victorious hug with Stokes at the MCG. If there was any lingering misery, he put it aside masterfully in Colombo to end England’s dreadful recent run in ODIs away from home, sweating his way to a series average of 123.5.
Just throw that hundred in Sydney and he’ll have serious contact again. It seems a shame that England doesn’t want him for the final act.
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