Paul Collingwood backs ‘hungry’ Joe Root to turn England’s fortunes around

Joe Root’s continuation as England Test captain may be in part down to a lack of alternatives but as the team flew to Barbados on Saturday, their interim head coach, Paul Collingwood, spoke of a “real unity” being formed under the Yorkshireman.

These are early days in the post-Ashes rebuild and a drawn first Test against West Indies on a lifeless Antiguan pitch is not cause to bring out the bunting. Nevertheless, after an early wobble England were enterprising, energetic and batters banked some previously elusive runs with centuries for Root, Zak Crawley and Jonny Bairstow.

Collingwood, holding the fort until a new director of cricket and head coach are appointed by the England and Wales Cricket Board, is modest about his own prospects for the second of those two vacancies. However, he sees a team playing for a captain who, though a record 62 Tests into the job, retains a strong desire to lead.

“You can sense that he’s got everybody behind him,” Collingwood said. “There’s a real unity. We’ve got a direction, we’ve got clarity, we were very honest with our conversations at the start of the tour and he looks as though he’s enjoying his cricket.

“I really believe he can turn this team around. It’d be great if this was the backbone for many years. They’ve got the chance to be together for a lot of years and there are a lot of young players in there. I’m sure Joe would love to be captain for that.”

Though eight players were dropped after the Ashes, the fact that two still merited retention on performance – Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad – has led some to speculate whether their presence somehow diminished Root’s authority or the environment, either in the dressing room or out on the field. Collingwood looked to dismiss the