“We No Longer Truly Hold Team Meetings”: Joe Root on the Culture of England under the Stokes-McCullum Regime

Joe Root, a batter for Premier England, provided insight into the team dynamic led by captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum. With the pairing of Stokes and McCullum, the England squad has emerged as a formidable force in Test cricket with to their ultra-attacking ‘Bazball’ style.

Although many questioned if England could play on Indian soil with the same mindset, they were able to intimidate them with their aggressive batting in the first two Test matches.

Root said that the captain and head coach now favor natural interactions at the dinner table, therefore the club no longer has a culture of team meetings.

“To be honest, we no longer have team meetings. One of the best things about our chats when we’re not playing the game is how much fun we have together and how wonderful it feels to spend time together. We don’t need to be seated in a conference room, and I believe that having the conversation over dinner is more real and true. Joe Root said to JioCinema, “I think that’s when you do your best learning—having coffee in the morning or whatever.”

In Hyderabad, England was down India by 190 runs when they pulled off an incredible comeback. They gave up a 143-run lead in this instance as well, but they were unable to overtake their rivals.

After the first innings of the Hyderabad Test, Root said that the goal was to carry on with what England had been doing for the previous year when asked whether they felt under pressure or if they had any doubts about their offensive strategy.

“No matter how the game turns out, we’re always going to play the way we know. It’s what has brought us success for quite some time. It’s what makes us our best selves. We’ve encountered similar circumstances previously. We were well down in the game the previous time we faced India in a one-off Test in England, but we were still able to close the gap. We’ve done things on a lot of previous instances that we never would have imagined we could accomplish. Thus, he said, “We will never give up on our beliefs or feel like we are out of the game.