Geoffrey Boycott Criticizes Joe Root's Captaincy, Welcomes Ben Stokes' Return

Former England batter Geoffrey Boycott has criticised 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 spell in charge.

Boycott also welcomed the return of Ben Stokes for the third Test, saying England needed him back in charge.

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 win in the first Test.

Root was handed the captaincy ahead of vice-captain Harry Brook. England fielded three debutants in the match and suffered a 253-run defeat, which became Root's 27th loss as a 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 being found guilty of breaching contractual obligations.

Writing for The Telegraph, Boycott said: "Thank heavens Ben Stokes will be back to lead England at Trent Bridge because it appeared Joe Root had learnt 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 the undisputed best batsman in the world. What a wonderful thing to be able to say about a smashing lad who everybody likes, including me. But having praised his batting, I take no pleasure in saying he does not have a feel for captaincy as we saw at the Oval," he added.

Boycott pointed to Root's handling of Jofra Archer, saying it reminded him of England's 2019 tour of New Zealand, when Archer was asked to bowl long spells and spend extended periods bowling short-pitched deliveries.

"Captaincy is a gift and a good leader has a natural inkling about who to bowl and what field to set for different batsmen," Boycott wrote.

"You cannot read it in a book but you can learn from watching opposition captains from all over the world. Sometimes it is intuition or luck and occasionally when you get a guy who is lucky and good then you get an exceptionally successful leader. Stokes is very good at handling Jofra Archer whereas Joe seemed to make the same mistakes at the Oval as he did when he captained England in New Zealand in 2019," he added.

Boycott was particularly critical of Archer's workload late on the opening day.

"It was madness Joe asking him to bowl an eight-over spell at the end of the first day at the Oval with numerous short balls aimed at the New Zealand batsman Glenn Phillips and the tail-enders," Boycott wrote.