England Test skipper Joe Root on Sunday said that he believes he is the right man to lead the Three Lions in the longest format of the game. Root's comments came after England suffered a 146-run loss against Australia in the fifth Test. The Three Lions went on to lose the Ashes 0-4. "I'd love the opportunity to take this team forward and to turn things around. At the minute, we are going through a real tough stage as a group of players, and the performances haven't been good enough. But I'd love the opportunity to try and turn things around and for us to start finding the performances that you'd expect from an English Test team, which we've been lacking of late," ESPNcricinfo quoted Root as saying.
"I believe I am the right man to take this team forward, in my own eyes. If that decision is taken out of my hands, then so be it, but I'd love the opportunity to carry that forward. And yes, I do have an appetite to carry on and to turn things around, but we'll see how things unfold," he added.
England was 68/0, while chasing 271, but then England lost all ten wickets for 56 runs, and in the end, the visitors were bowled out for 124, handing Australia a 146-run win in the fifth Ashes Test.
"It was a really poor display today with the bat. We felt like we had a real opportunity to win this Test match, but there were some very poor dismissals after a very promising start, so it's disappointing to be sat here, beaten as heavily as that," said Root.
"The quality's there ... the potential is, certainly. There's a lot of talent, we've just not turned it into performances, which is the bottom line in Test cricket. At this level, you've got to bang out performances, and we've not managed to do that at all on this on this trip as a batting group," he added.
Cameron Green and Scott Boland took three wickets each in the second innings as Australia defeated England by 146 runs in the fifth Ashes Test here at the Blundstone Arena on Sunday.
With this win, Australia won the five-match Ashes 4-0. Australian skipper Pat Cummins also took three wickets in the second innings as the hosts completed a perfect bowling performance.