Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ENGLAND v INDIA, OLD TRAFFORD ROOT LEFT BEHIND BY THE T20 BRUTES
Joe fears the six-hitting, boundary-bashing stars are putting him in the shade BUTTLER ROY
JOE ROOT faces a battle to show why he remains an automatic pick for T20 games that are becoming more powerful by the day.
Root has admitted to his own fears at being left behind as T20 cricket moves on at an electric pace, and there was evidence at Edgbaston to suggest those fears are well-founded.
As the likes of Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, Eoin Morgan and Jonny Bairstow sent the ball into the stands with either ease or with muscular brutality, Root had to find another way.
Root scored 35 from 24 balls against Australia which was the lowest strike-rate of all the England batsmen.
And when you consider the form Bairstow is in, it was a poor decision to have him come in lower than Root and face just eight balls – two of which he sent over the ropes.
There is no doubting Root’s world-class quality as a batsman in the Test arena, but he is not necessarily the most effective batsman in the T20 format.
On increasingly flat pitches, it is becoming a six-hitting shootout. Root (below, with coach Paul Farbrace) has the complete backing of the England hierarchy and will be given all three T20 matches against India to show why there is still room for players like him.
But with another powerful stroke player, Ben Stokes (right), due back on England duty in the final game in Bristol, the man who misses out might be right to feel aggrieved.
“You don’t want everybody playing the same way,” said Farbrace. “You do need nous and there will be times when Joe is the outstanding player in a T20 game and gets us over the line because of his high level of skill.
“In my mind Joe plays 100 per cent and I can’t believe anybody else in our set-up would argue against that. “He is world class in all forms of the game. He could go anywhere from three to six and it is nice having that flexibility and that cool, calm head.”