Nasser Hussain hailed new England Test captain Joe Root's decision to abolish a team curfew but fears the returning skipper sometimes lacks a feel for the game as a leader like his predecessor Ben Stokes. Root has captained England on a record 65 occasions, most recently during their second Test defeat to New Zealand earlier this summer after Stokes and Gus Atkinson were suspended for breaking a team curfew that was introduced off the back of the 4-1 Ashes defeat in the winter. "It's just a grown up decision, isn't it?" Hussain said on the latest Sky Sports Cricket Podcast of Root's decision to axe said curfew ahead of the three-Test series against Pakistan - live on Sky Sports - starting Wednesday.
"You've lost the team if you've got a curfew. You've got no control over your team. "There's nothing good that happens with curfews because someone will end up breaking it.
"Just treat people like grown ups, and if they don't behave like grown ups, then the first thing you do is fine them, and then the second thing you do is leave them out. "A professional sporting outfit shouldn't need a curfew, and it just shows how bad a place they were in that a curfew was put in. "I'm really pleased that Joe has said 'no, enough of that nonsense'." Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player The immediate task facing Root is to revive an England side that have lost eight of their last 13 Test matches following on from the 2-1 series loss to New Zealand that ended the 'Bazball' era and also saw the international retirement of Stokes.
Root's first permanent stint as skipper, however, also ended with a similarly barren run, with just one win in his final 17 Tests before he resigned from the captaincy in 2022. "He was given the biggest of hospital passes [for the second Test against New Zealand] at The Oval," Hussain said. "That was very recent, that wasn't four years ago, and it brought back some of the memories of Joe as a captain.
"For such a great player that has a feel for the tempo of a game, in that game at The Oval, he didn't have the feel of the game. "He almost was trying to be a bit too Ben Stokes-ish, having men on the drive on a bouncy Oval pitch where balls were going behind. "He doesn't quite have the feel of the game.
And that's what I liked about Stokes' captaincy. He had a real feel for it. "I'm pleased he's doing it, although I may have gone in the direction of Harry Brook, because I do see with Harry in white-ball cricket that he has a real feel for the game.
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