How Stephen Fleming's arrival made Joe Root change his mind on England captaincy

Joe Root wasn't initially interested in taking up the England Test captaincy role, according to his father Matt. However, Root's dad said Stephen Fleming's arrival as England's new Test coach made him change his mind.

Root initially took on the interim job after the Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson club fiasco, and the all-rounder was dropped from the team. Once Stokes retired from international cricket and Brendon McCullum stepped down as the red-ball coach, Root took over the role, with Fleming being put in charge at the top.

Speaking to talkSport, Matt revealed that Root was impressed by Fleming coming into the scheme of things.

“When he was given the job for the Trent Bridge Test against New Zealand, I did say, if they offered it to you, would you take it full-time? And he said no."

"So I think he's impressed with Stephen Fleming. Him coming in as head coach I think has motivated Joe to get involved,” said Matt.

ROOT FRUSTRATED BY CARSE INCIDENT

Root guided England to a win against Pakistan in the first Test, but had to quickly changed his focus towards off-field issues after Brydon Carse was arrested for another drinking incident.

Root's father revealed that the England skipper has been left frustrated and spent four hours on the phone on Sunday, August 23, trying to sort things out.

“It's frustrating for Joe. He's gone back in to do the job as captain. He's tried to give players responsibility for their own actions.

“He was around here on Sunday afternoon, spent four hours probably on the phone trying to sort things out.

“He doesn't want to be doing that, he wants to be focusing on the on-field stuff," said Root's father.

With the possibility of a return to England's Test captaincy looming, Joe Root also has another historic milestone firmly in sight: Sachin Tendulkar's record for the most runs in Test cricket.

Root has scored 14,180 Test runs and is 1,741 away from Tendulkar's towering tally of 15,921. The 35-year-old also drew level with the Indian legend's record of 68 Test fifties during the opening Test against Pakistan.

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