The Ashes are gone for England, and while there are still two Tests to come, the recriminations, the dissections will have begun in the halls of the ECB.
Selections, individual performances, behaviour, captaincy, coaching will all be part of the review.
We could spend this whole post on exploring all the numbers that lead to getting a result, or not in England’s case, on all the significant themes such as top order batting, top order partnerships, late order partnerships, scoring shots, bowling strike rates, opening bowling combinations, spin bowling, etc – Australia has England well and truly covered on almost every statistic.
One statistic that is not measured, or at least not quantitatively measured is leadership. In particular, leadership demonstrated by the captain.
Leadership can be discussed in terms of values such as integrity, discipline, taking the road less travelled and hard work.
Leadership can also be discussed by the translation of these values into daily actions and behaviours which show the team what are the standards that are expected of everyone.
In a contest such as the Ashes, there are few more inspiring acts for the team than the captain leading from the front. And conversely from the opposition dressing room, there is nothing more demoralising for the opposing captain to be ‘out-led’.
Steve Smith through his dominance on the field has inspired his teammates. He has given them the confidence that they can achieve something special in this Ashes series.
Joe Root on the other hand has demanded a ruthlessness approach from his batsmen and bowlers – yet, he has not delivered himself.
He has wanted his team to not just play well in periods of the game, but throughout the game – yet, he has not delivered himself.
Captaincy and leadership is hard to define and therefore hard to measure.
However, if we suggest that one aspect of being a good leader and captain of a cricket team is being able to ‘lead from the front’ or ‘lead by example’, then Krishna Tunga has looked at recent captains of England and Australia, and what the averages show once they were appointed captain, compared with when they were a player.
The table below shows averages and includes centuries as well –
| England’s Captaincy(Bat Avg and centuries) | |||||
| Captains | Tests-Won | Success rate | All Tests as captain | Won | Lost |
| MP Vaughan | 51-26 | 50.98% | 36.02 (9) | 38.19(4) | 23.81(1) |
| A Flintoff(Bat) | 11-2 | 18.18% | 33.23(0) | 37.66(0) | 28.92(0) |
| A Flintoff(Bowl) | 34.44 (bowl) (0) | 20.00(0) (bowl) | 35.68(0) (bowl) | ||
| AJ Strauss | 50-24 | 48.00% | 40.76(9) | 51.14(4) | 18.63(0) |
| AN Cook | 59-24 | 40.68% | 46.57(12) | 57.63(7) | 38.00(2) |
| JE Root | 10-5 | 50.00% | 50.27(2) | 64.00(2) | 39.30(0) |
| Australia’s Captaincy (Bat Avg and centuries) | |||||
| Captains | Tests-Won | Success rate | All Tests as captain | Won | Lost |
| SR Waugh | 57-41 | 71.93 % | 52.30(15) | 55.34(11) | 55.06(4) |
| RT Ponting | 77-48 | 62.34% | 51.51(15) | 59.12(14) | 29.06(1) |
| MJ Clarke | 47-24 | 51.06% | 51.92(14) | 61.05(8) | 26.21(2) |
| SPD Smith | 29-16 | 55.17% | 74.00(14) | 87.68(8) | 37.93(2) |
| As a Player | ||||
| England | Before Captaincy | Post Captaincy | As a player | Total Career |
| MP Vaughan | 50.98(9) | None | 50.98(9) | 41.44(18) |
| A Flintoff(Bat) | 32.36(5) | 27.28(0) | 31.66(5) | 31.89(5) |
| A Flintoff(Bowl) | 31.51(bowl) | 38.00(bowl) | 31.51(bowl) | 32.78(bowl)(3) |
| AJ Strauss* | 42.37(10) | 42.63(2) | 41.04(12) | 40.91(21) |
| AN Cook* | 42.65(10 ) | 53.71(18) & 34.47(1) | 44.88(19) | 45.57(31) |
| JE Root | 52.80(11) | Not yet | 52.80(11) | 52.37(13) |
| · Both Strauss and Cook had 2 different period of captaincy | ||||
| As a Player | ||||
| Australia | Before Captaincy | Post captaincy | As a player | Total Career |
| SR Waugh | 50.44(17) | None | 50.44(17) | 51.06(32) |
| RT Ponting | 55.97 (20) | 38.00(2) | 52.18(22) | 51.85(41) |
| MJ Clarke | 46.97(14) | None | 46.97(14) | 49.10(28) |
| SPD Smith | 51.83(8) | Not yet | 51.83(8) | 62.32(22) |
Points to note are –
- All Australian captains apart from Ricky Ponting increased their career batting average during their time as captain
- Steve Smith at the time of writing has significantly increased his career average during his captaincy
- For English captains, their career averages were reduced due to their batting average whilst captain, apart from Alastair Cook and Joe Root
- Joe Root’s current average this series is 176 runs @ 29.33 with 2 x 50’s
For England to improve their team performances through the final two Tests, Joe Root needs to score at least one century in the 1st innings of a Test, preferably both, and have a batting average at or beyond his career average of 52!
Lead by example Joe!
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