Gillespie Defends Root’s Decision To Play Leach And Says That The Skipper Is Being Unfairly Treated

Root felt Root was treated unfairly after a series of losses this season.The latest of these being the 9 wicket loss at The Gabba in the Ashes Test.
Gillespie also supported Root’s choice to play Jack Leach during the Test, saying that Root wanted to rest his pace bowlers by pushing the spinner into service.Unfortunately though, he ran for too many runs.

England pacers Ollie Robinson, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood were all economically sound to a certain extent.However, Leach, a 30-year-old left arm spinner, was a bit more economical than the others.

He conceded 102 runs in his first innings runs after only 13 runs at an economy rate close to eight.

Root has had a lot of responsibility for quite some time now as England’s top player.

However, the critics he’s received about his captaincy are unfair.To give his quicks rest, he would have hoped that Leach would average 2.5-3 runs per over.Gillespie wrote in Sunday’s column for Dailymail.co.uk that this didn’t occur and it was something to think about going forward.

Joe is an excellent captain.He’s always learning and improving, and has taken a proactive approach to things rather than letting them run.A captain cannot work without the right players, and Leach’s treatment by Australia will prove to be an eye opener for him.