I’LL GO FOURTH AND MULTIPLY RUNS
Root eyeing big scores after dropping down order to No4
JOE ROOT believes he has put in the hard graft that will see his batting soar to new levels of Test run-scoring.
The England captain and scorer of 16 Test centuries endured his worst Test summer to date in 2019 as he failed to register a ton against Australia or Ireland. There were three ducks at Lord’s, Headingley and Old Trafford while his average for a campaign was under 30 for the first time.
Of course these were exceptional circumstances, with the Ashes following hot on the heels of a successful World Cup in which Root was England’s highest runmaker with 556.
And while the quality of Root’s batting and his ability are not in question, he knows a fresh start alongside new head coach Chris Silverwood in New Zealand is the perfect time to up his output and help England post giant totals.
Root said: “I’ve done quite a lot of work on my batting and feel there has been quite a significant shift in certain areas of it.
“When you’re not concerned about areas of your game, that unlocks a lot of things as well. You have the clarity and clear mind to just go and play. So hopefully that’ll play a big part starting from this series and then I can go and get some big runs.”
The area that Root has been working on is to be less susceptible to the ball that nips back at him and has a knack of trapping him lbw or bowling him through the gate.
To that end he has spent time with an old friend, Josh Varley, who is the captain and coach at Root’s club Sheffield Collegiate and who has been giving him lots of throwdowns to get ready for the challenge of Trent Boult,Tim Southee and Co.
They are set to be joined by Lockie Ferguson – the secondhighest wicket-taker at the World Cup – who has been included in the Black Caps’ 15-man squad and could make his Test debut. Captain Kane Williamson is fit for the two-Test series which starts next Thursday.
Root will bat at No4, having moved to No3 during the Ashes, and after watching Dominic Sibley and Zak Crawley get off to the perfect start with hundreds in the first warm-up match here, he is looking forward to walking out a little later.
He said: “Once the
Test matches come around it will all be very different, but I thought the template and tempo of how we went about batting was much more like how
I want to see us play.”