Joe Root needs to resign as England captain ‘for his own good’ – Steve Harmison

Steve Harmison believes Joe Root should resign as England Test captain for “his own mental sanity”.

Root’s position as England skipper has come under intense scrutiny after his side rounded off a winter of discontent with a 1-0 series defeat against the West Indies.

Having lost four of the five Tests in Australia, a much hyped red-ball reset has failed to achieve the desired result as England capitulated with the bat in Grenada before crashing to a 10-wicket defeat.

While Root has suggested he wants to keep leading the team and insists they have made progress during the tour of the Caribbean, former England fast bowler Harmison thinks the 31-year-old should step down.

“There’s going to be a lot talked about Joe Root’s captaincy,” Harmison told talkSPORT. “My opinion is he needs to do it himself now for his own good.

“I just think for his own mental sanity it’s time to get out of there, unfortunately.”

England’s Ashes humbling was followed by a sweeping of the decks earlier this year as director of cricket Ashley Giles, head coach Chris Silverwood and assistant Graham Thorpe all lost their jobs.

While James Anderson and Stuart Broad were controversially omitted from the three-match series against the Windies, interim managing director of cricket Sir Andrew Strauss gave Root a vote of confidence.

Former England captain Mike Atherton thinks that was the wrong decision.

“I felt he should have gone at the end of the Ashes,” he said. “I can’t see there’s any justification for carrying on. He was given full backing by Andrew Strauss and I don’t think he will give it away.”

There were shoots of positivity in Antigua and Barbados, where England got themselves into winning positions in both matches but were unable to get over the