Speedsters on a slow Root to top
JOE BACKS JOFRA AND WOOD TO COME GOOD
JOE ROOT says he expects 90mph men Jofra Archer and Mark Wood to follow Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad and prove their doubters wrong.
Archer had a lowkey Test summer compared to the newball pairing with just eight wickets spread across his four matches.
Wood managed to force his way into just one Test, against West Indies in the summer opener at Southampton.
Yet Root has no doubt Archer remains one of the most exciting talents in English cricket after witnessing first hand some impressive spells without reward.
And he backed Wood to be a big part of the progress towards the Ashes in 2021-22.
The England captain said: “Jofra has not taken the wickets he did in the past. He is a young guy at the start of his career learning his trade.
“But he bowled magnificently in this third Test against Pakistan without much reward.
“There is always going to be a lot of talk around Jofra because of how exciting he is and what he has to offer. All we can do is keep encouraging him so we see him at the top end of his game as often as possible.
“With Woody, we want to make sure when he plays he can perform at his very best. That is what gives him that X-factor and opportunity to make a difference, so I am not concerned.
“We all know how special a talent Woody is and I can see him playing a lot more Test cricket for England.”
England pinned much hope on the pair of quicks at the outset of this summer, with the idea both will be needed in Australia in 2021-22.
They intended to rotate the rest around one of the two 90mph men, but those plans were ripped up when Anderson,
Broad and Woakes demanded inclusion with their wickets.
Root insisted long-term plans are unchanged and he believes the team have the components to top the Test rankings one day.
He said: “We know we are not the best team in the world but we have all the ingredients if we can keep getting better and learning from mistakes.
“In time we will be consistently competing with the very best.”
Anderson ended the summer by taking his 600th Test wicket as England drew with Pakistan to win the series 1-0.
England’s next Test outing remains up in the air with the series against India more than likely to take place in the United Arab Emirates between January and March next year.
With an eye on that, Root had words of encouragement for the two slow bowlers, Jack Leach and Dom Bess.
He said: “Bessy did not get a huge amount of opportunity to affect games because of the pitches and weather but it would have been unfair to deprive him of that opportunity after he performed well in South Africa.
“We have two guys (Bess and Leach) desperate to learn. If we get to play in the sub-continent this winter, I’m sure they will get an opportunity.”