Root tipped to remain captain despite Ashes thumping

Joe Root has the support of his teammates to continue as England captain despite their humiliating Ashes capitulation to Australia, according to allrounder Chris Woakes.

However, Woakes was less effusive when it came to the future of head coach Chris Silverwood, who faces a fight to keep his job.

England suffered an innings and 14-run loss to Australia on Tuesday in Melbourne as Root's team surrendered the five-Test Vodafone Ashes series with two games to spare.

Root, who was reluctant to discuss the long-term future of his captaincy after the defeat in the third Test, has not won any of his three Ashes series in charge.

The 30-year-old, who will overtake predecessor Sir Alastair Cook's record of 59 Tests at the helm when he leads the side out in Sydney on January 5, has also suffered a record nine defeats in 2021 as captain.

But a report in the UK Telegraph on Wednesday said Root has the support of ECB CEO Tom Harrison to continue as skipper after the pair met in Melbourne to discuss the horror tour.

I News is also reporting that Root told his teammates he wants to stay in the role and that he broadly has the backing of the dressing-room.

Asked if the England players would support Root's continuation as skipper, Woakes said on Wednesday, "Absolutely. It's clear that the captaincy isn't having an effect on his batting, which a lot of the time with captains can be the case."

Root has proved a virtual lone hand with the bat and, after scoring 50 and 28 in Melbourne, he finishes the calendar year with 1,708 runs, the third-highest in history after Mohammad Yousuf (1,788) and Viv Richards (1,710).

"The fact that he's scoring the runs he is, is great for the team," Woakes added. "It would be great if we could help him out with that and build some partnerships with him, and score a few more runs around him.

"But Joe is a great cricketer, he's got a great cricket brain. I think his record as England captain is pretty good, as far as I'm aware. I definitely feel like Joe will continue."

Asked if Silverwood, who is sole selector as well as head coach, also has the same support, Woakes added: "Who am I to talk about people's futures other than my own, to be brutally honest? We have two more games and we want to show a lot of character, a lot of fight.

"The group of players, the management and the staff we have out here have the backing of the players to hopefully put things right, over the next two games in particular."

Woakes was one of 10 England players to return to the MCG nets on what should have been day four of the Boxing Day Test, as work began on averting an Ashes whitewash.

The top three of Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed and Dawid Malan - who scored a combined 38 runs in the match - did come for a bat.

They were joined by the seven squad members who did not feature in the match for a workout led by Silverwood and assistant Graham Thorpe.

Vodafone Men's Ashes

Squads

Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith (vc), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner

England: Joe Root (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Schedule

First Test: Australia won by nine wickets

Second Test: Australia won by 275 runs

Third Test: Australia won by an innings and 14 runs

Fourth Test: January 5-9, SCG

Fifth Test: January 14-18, Blundstone Arena