Captain Joe Root believes England are ‘on the right track’ after a turbulent summer. Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA
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Captain in upbeat mood after emphatic win at Edgbaston
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‘We’re in a better place than we were, definitely’
Joe Root said England have “come through the other side of the chaos” after a tumultuous summer ended in a 3-0 series sweep of Pakistan.
Stephen Fleming, the new Test coach, is due to arrive in the country on Monday and has meetings scheduled with his captain, as well as the interim coach, Marcus Trescothick, as the team look to head into the winter in more settled style.
“It’s been a very unusual summer, that’s probably a better way of putting it,” Root said, after England completed an eight-wicket win at Edgbaston. “There’s been lots of different things happen.
“A [captain] resignation mid-series, there’ve been a few off-field incidents and we’ve got a new coach. Whether you call it chaos, or unusual, or unsettling, I think all are fair but ultimately the thing I care about is what happens from that, and the way we’ve responded has been excellent. That there’s now clarity in what is expected of the group is quite evident, and we build on that now.
“We’re in a better place than we were, definitely. Just having gone through that, you learn in chaos, you learn about the group of players that you have, and for us to have come through this series in the manner that we have done, the way we’ve gone about things has been really pleasing. It will be a continuation of that now.
“In terms of everything we’ve been through over the last little while, for us to now have the clarity and come through the other side of chaos is really important. Once everything unfolded how it did, it was how we responded that was the most important thing and the group have done that brilliantly. We’ve put things on the right track.”
This was a contest between two sides who are in a rebuilding phase after coaching changes. “It’s going to take a long time for us to keep working at that and living it day in, day out. The fact we’ve been able to start that journey and win a series in the manner that we have done has been really pleasing,” Root said.
“When you’re trying to build a culture it doesn’t happen overnight and it doesn’t over the course of three or four weeks.”
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It was a message echoed by Mike Hesson, after his first game as Pakistan’s Test coach. “I don’t think there’s ever a quick fix to developing any team,” said Hesson, who confirmed that he had been contacted by England earlier this summer when they sought a replacement for Brendon McCullum, but said he had been unwilling to renege on his commitments to the Pakistan Cricket Board.
“There’s a lot of fans out there who were searching for things to hang on to, and I think our job is to provide hope and [evidence] that the team’s heading in the right direction. We’ve lost the match pretty convincingly in the end but I think the one thing Pakistani fans want is to see fight and that the side doesn’t give up. And I can assure you in the dressing room the last couple of days there’s been a little bit of confidence gained in terms of where we go from here.”
