So the three-day event that has been the deliverance of the new England captain finally came to a conclusion at sunny Headingley. Up stepped Joe Root in his collar, tie and blazer, two days after Andrew Strauss had confirmed the bleeding obvious, plenty of time for him to compose a manifesto.
To the relief of his Yorkshire forebears his first aspiration had a familiar ring. “I’d like to be a captain that wins,” he said. Raymond Illingworth will be pleased by that. When he was in charge of the 1970–71 tour Illingworth was aghast and then furious after his manager – David Clark from Kent – had expressed the view that he would rather lose the Ashes 3-1 than win them 1-0. “Play up and play the game” does not quite cut it in Yorkshire.
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