Yorkshire CCC: England captain Joe Root is still the ‘only man for job’, believes Darren Gough

Gough said that Root was “the only man for the job” and that England’s problems cut much deeper than any issues concerning the man in charge.

England have won just one of their last 17 Tests under the Yorkshireman and lost five successive series, but Gough made clear: “I’ve backed Joe all the way and continue to back him.

“Having been around that group, and having seen the influence that he has in that dressing room and how people respect him, and knowing the other characters in there, he’s the only man for the job in my eyes – there’s no one else to do it.

“If he’s still passionate about doing it, and if he still thinks that he can take them in the right direction, then, as far as I’m concerned, he’s the right man.

“Of course, it’s hard to back it up if you start looking at stats –one win in 17… very, very difficult.

“But I think, at this period in time, he is still the right man.”

Root has said that he wishes to continue despite calls from former England captains such as Michael Vaughan, Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton for him to stand down after the recent defeat in the West Indies.

The 31-year-old is taking a break after that series but will play for Yorkshire prior to the Test match summer which starts against New Zealand at Lord’s on June 2.

“You have to look up to a captain,” added Gough.

“I’ve always joked in the past about a captain only being as good as the team, and there are captains who’ve been labelled great captains because they’ve won Ashes series.

“But there have been great captains who have not won Ashes series, and I think with Joe Root, if you look at the team and the way they’re performing, it’s more of a team issue than it is a Joe Root issue, and I think we’ve just got to accept at this moment in time that we’ve got players who are not good enough.

“It’s hard to accept, but we’ve got players who are not performing as good as they should be. They’re making the same mistakes, time and time again, and they’ve got to address it.

“A lot comes down to technique. The technique in the game has probably shifted in the last 10-15 years with T20 cricket, which is a game I love, but we’ve got to get back to 10/11/12-year-olds having the basic game before they start playing reverse sweeps and so on.

“I know this from my own two sons: when my sons were younger, they were practising reverse sweeps and sweeps, whereas when I was their age I was trying to play forward defensives and getting the basics right – and I wasn’t even a batter. We need to go back to that.”

Ottis Gibson, the Yorkshire head coach, said that he had no firm view either way on whether Root should continue as England captain.

“I haven’t got a strong opinion on the Joe Root situation,” he said. “I’m not in it (that environment). I don’t know what it’s like in the dressing room. Often, a lot of people give opinions from outside the dressing room but you don’t know what’s going on in the dressing room.

“The one thing I know from being around Joe is that he’s well-respected in the dressing room, but whether he’s the man or not, I don’t really have an opinion on that.”

Where Gibson does have a firm opinion is in his desire to see Root in a Yorkshire shirt as often as possible.

One can think of no centrally-contracted player, indeed, who is more keen to play for his county than Root, who always gives 100 per cent when he does and remains a fine ambassador for club and country.

“We want Joe to come back here to his happy place to play some cricket with his mates,” said Gibson.

“He’s taking a break now and then I believe he’ll be ready for the last two or three four-day games (before the Tests); we’ve spoken about a date near the back end of April.”

Yorkshire have confirmed that they will have fast bowler Haris Rauf available for their first six Championship matches as well as their first five T20 games.

Rauf will link-up with the 23-year-old leg-spinner/batsman Shadab Khan, his Pakistan team-mate, whom Yorkshire have also signed for those first five T20 matches plus the final six in the 14-match group stage.

“I have been watching the (Yorkshire) team from afar over the past four or five years and I think that we have lacked a couple of things that I would like to see,” said Gough. “I would like our one-day game to go in a different direction.

“Shadab Khan is someone who can bat at the top, bat in the middle order and hits the ball a long way. He is also an unbelievable spinner.

“You can imagine Shadab, Adil Rashid and Dom Bess bowling together, giving us a fantastic spin department.”

Yorkshire today start their final pre-season friendly – a three-day affair against Leeds-Bradford at Weetwood.