Joe Root lacks leadership qualities, feels Brendon McCullum

Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum does not see England captain Joe Root as a proactive leader. While Root has done well with the bat, he has failed to take England to wins over. The team lost to India in India and New Zealand. They are also trailing 2-1 in the five-match series against India, the final of which will be played in July next year. In the first Test in Ashes, they suffered a crushing loss to Australia.

McCullum said Joe Root has failed to prove his credential as a skipper so far. “I think Joe Root is a wonderful guy, an outstanding cricketer and they talk about him as a very good leader. I haven’t really seen it," the 40-year-old McCullum, who has played over 100 Tests and scored nearly 6,500 runs, told SENZ Breakfast on Monday.

McCullum also spoke about England's loss in the first Ashes Test and said things are going bad to worse for England this year. “England had opportunities, they had their chances, but they just weren’t really strong enough. When the pressure came on and Australia started to flex, England just went missing. That’s their seventh Test loss in the calendar year which is just remarkable. Their worst ever has been eight and it’s been some time since that.

“The worst ever in the history of Test cricket is nine by Bangladesh. It’s been a pretty dire Test match year for England," opined McCullum. “There’s only really one player who is scoring any runs for them and that’s the skipper Joe Root," he added.