Nasser Hussain praised Joe Root’s poised return to the captaincy after England secured a thumping three-day victory over Pakistan by an innings and 103 runs in the first Test at Headingley.
The skipper oversaw a dominant all-round performance, with Josh Tongue (8-89) and Ollie Robinson (8-80) leading the way with the ball, while vice-captain Harry Brook (91), Jordan Cox (73) and Root himself (66) helped England to 409 in their only innings.
Hussain recognised the difference in approach to his last spell as captain between 2017 and 2022, praising a reinvigorated Root's return to the helm:
"The biggest thing [about this Test match] was Joe Root," Hussain said on Your Site Cricket.
"He said to Michael Atherton in an interview: 'judge me not on how I was last time, but how I am now.'
"If you'd just come down and seen Joe this week, these three days, albeit against a poor Pakistan side, you'll say he had a really good three days as captain.
"The decision with the balance of the side [worked out], electing not to have a frontline spinner. I know some of that was enforced because of no Ben Stokes - and we'll come on to that - but it was also the toss decision, and then the way he batted, and then the way he captained in the field.
"It was never I'm trying to be Stokes. It was just Joe Root being Joe. He had a smile on his face.
"Compare that to [the second Test against New Zealand] at The Oval, where he was handed a hospital pass [by being made interim captain]. He looked a bit dishevelled by the end of that, to be honest, and he didn't have his best game as captain there.
But I think he was really good here. And that's a positive sign."
Hussain also highlighted a change in approach from Root's predecessor, Stokes, who had previously been criticised for a lack of attention to detail, saying England showed a new "maturity" alongside vice-captain Brook in their dominant victory.
"I thought there was a maturity about their performance here on and off the field as well. Just listening to Harry Brook and the interview he gave me this morning, you just sensed some more mature answers - saying 'we have had a look at ourselves'.
"It's not [the Bazball attitude] of 'this is the only way we play and you lot don't like it - We don't care.'
"It was realising that there are a lot of good bits [to McCullum and Stokes], as Joe said to Michael Atherton, to take forward.
"I thought they got the tempo of batting right, albeit because they were given a full ball every over.
"So I sense there's a bit more of a maturity to their performance."
Stuart Broad also praised the performance of Tongue after his eight-wicket haul, saying the bowler has established himself as one of England's most valuable players:
"I think he's England's best bowler," Broad said on Your Site.
"He's England's trump card really at the moment. The most valuable bowler that England have.
"He looks fit, he looks like he's bowling a good amount of overs, keeping his bowling maintenance rather than stopping and starting the whole time because he's had injury problems, right?
"That's been his thing that stopped him over the last six, seven years. So he'll want to continue that sort of form by bowling, staying fit. He looks fit and he holds the key for England to be successful over the next year."
Watch day one of the second Test between England and Pakistan, at Lord's, live on Your Site Cricket from 10am on Thursday (11am first ball). .
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