‘It was madness’: Geoffrey Boycott tears into Joe Root’s captaincy in second Test, thanks ‘heavens’ for Ben Stokes return

Former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott criticized Joe Root’s leadership during England’s defeat to New Zealand in the second Test at The Oval, saying the stand-in captain appeared to have learned “nothing” from his previous leadership. Boycott also welcomed the return of Ben Stokes for the third Test, saying England needed him back in the lead.Stokes missed the second Test while an investigation was carried out into his and Gus Atkinson’s alleged involvement in a nightclub altercation with a rugby player following England’s victory in the first Test. Root takes the captain’s armband ahead of vice-captain Harry Brook. England fielded three debutants in the match and suffered a 253-run defeat, Root’s 27th loss as Test captain.The England and Wales Cricket Board later confirmed that Stokes would return for the third Test. The board said Stokes and Atkinson received written warnings after they were found guilty of breaching contractual obligations.Writing for The Telegraph, Boycott said: “Thank God Ben Stokes will be back to lead England at Trent Bridge because it looked like Joe Root had learned nothing from his last stint as England captain.”He also praised Root’s batting while questioning his captaincy.“Now that Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson have retired from Test match cricket, Root is undisputedly the best batsman in the world. What a wonderful thing to say about a great lad who is loved by everyone, including me. But having praised his batting, I am not pleased to say that he has no feel for a captain as we have seen at the Oval,” he added.Boycott pointed to Root’s handling of Jofra Archer and said it reminded him of England’s 2019 tour of New Zealand, when Archer was asked to bowl long spells and spend more time bowling short deliveries.“A captain is a gift and a good leader has a natural sense of who to bowl and what fields to set for different batsmen,” Boycott wrote. “You can’t read it in a book, but you can learn it by watching opposition captains around the world. Sometimes it’s intuition or luck and sometimes when you get a guy who’s lucky and good, you get an exceptionally successful leader. Stokes is very good in handling Jofra Archer, while Joe seemed to be making the same mistakes on the Oval as when he was England captain in New Zealand in 2019,” he added.Boycott was particularly critical of Archer’s workload late on opening day.“It was madness when Joe asked him to bowl eight over spells at the end of the first day at the Oval with numerous short balls aimed at New Zealand batsman Glenn Phillips and the end players,” Boycott wrote.