There are many things that former England cricket captain Joe Root and I have in common: we were both born in Sheffield; both grew up in the same village; both have the weighty burden of supporting Sheffield United and both have scored 10,000 Test runs! Actually, the last one isn’t true but three out of four is not too bad!
There is 13 years between us so although we attended the same primary school, and played football or cricket on the same fields and pitches, our paths never crossed! Well, again, not strictly true because my parents still live in the house I was brought up in, and Root lives in a palatial pad in the same village, so when I go and see my folks, I occasionally see him drive past in his top-grade motor car!
Root has rightly grabbed many of the sporting headlines in the past week for his impressive batting milestone, going through 10,000 Test runs during his innings of 176 against New Zealand in the second Test at Trent Bridge. It was the 27th time that the Yorkshireman had reached three figures and on 13 of those occasions (like in Nottingham) he made at least 150; not bad stats at all!
He’s been called England’s greatest-ever batter and if he continues at his current rate, there is little doubt that he will retire as the best of the lot in terms of runs scored.
Joe Root is no longer burdened by captaincy
This, of course, is the first Test series for England since he stepped down as captain, passing that baton on to Ben Stokes. And it seems that he is not now burdened with the pressure of captaincy. Sure, he will still be a leader and he will still be revered and respected but he won’t have the same pressure of being the skipper!
Sir Alistair Cook – the man who relinquished the England captain’s role to Root – wrote in his autobiography that when he (Cook) took over from Andrew Strauss, he could see that Strauss was ‘wearing the role like a concrete overcoat’. When Root was toiling as batter and captain during the Test series defeat by the West Indies in the Caribbean earlier this year, BBC TMS Commentator Johnathan Agnew said that Root looked tired, stressed and fed up. Now though, without the role of captain, Root seems rejuvenated, fresh and free!
Pressures of leadership
To that end, I can empathise. Many people like to see themselves as leaders, want to set the tone or example and like to be the figurehead. Some are good leaders, natural even, some are not. But even the good ones, perhaps even the best ones, inevitably sacrifice something when they lead. As a leader you have to think of others, you have to consider the group. You spend precious time and energy ensuring that the camp is happy rather than worrying only about yourself. Your tasks and responsibilities are inherently based around assessing other people’s contribution, where they can improve and managing their expectations. The result of all this is self-sacrifice. Yes, you may have a fancier title, more attention and perhaps a fatter pay packet, but the sacrifice is that your job role demands that you focus on others rather than yourself.
I manage a team and am responsible for a lot of people. I help them develop, provide them with opportunities, and make the environment as positive as possible so they can maximise their potential. All the while, whilst I am working on them, they too are working on themselves. But rarely do the leaders enjoy time to develop, and the weight of leadership can mean that you simply don’t have enough hours in the day to work on ‘you’.
For Root though, now that he has the time for some inner focus, we may see the best version of ‘him’. And that will almost certainly be bad news for international bowlers the world over!
By Will Cope
Check out Will Cope’s blog Sports Wrangle HERE
