ROOT: I WON’T CHOP FLOPS
Skipper ready to gamble by sticking with side thrashed at Trent Bridge for crunch at Ageas Bowl
ENGLAND are set to gamble again with the same team who were sliced and diced at Trent Bridge in the blind hope they will have learned their lesson by next Thursday.
A 203-run defeat is not the usual platform from which to declare ‘carry on’ but at 2-1 up in the series Joe Root is preparing to put his faith in a batting line-up spluttering like a clapped-out Ford Anglia. There could be a shuffling of the deckchairs if the running repairs on Jonny Bairstow’s fractured finger are enough for him to take his place in the side as a specialist batsman, leaving Jos Buttler to wear the gloves. And if Bairstow is free to play as a batsman he could leapfrog Ollie Pope who is finding life tough as an international No.4, but who might find it easier at six. In Nottingham they were bowled out in a session before being taught another lesson by manof-the-match Virat Kohli, whose 97 and 103 were masterclasses, and for a time Buttler and Ben Stokes appeared to have taken some useful notes. But it will take more than one partnership of substance next week to put away an Indian side with their tails up and on the charge. “Ultimately our batting in that first innings was very poor,” admitted Root. “It’s happened on a couple of occasions, and it’s obviously not good enough – well below what we’re capable of. “The challenge for our top order is for someone to stand up, drag a couple of players with them and make a really big contribution. “You look at that partnership between Jos and Ben, and it’s a great example and lesson to the batting group of how to go about things in Test cricket.” Alastair Cook is one man who shouldn’t need such an example and Root is standing firm behind his former skipper who came out of a dip in 2014 at the Ageas Bowl against India. His runs have dried up and despite holding four catches at slip in this game he has put down his fair share of the 12 England have grassed in the series – something that has had the bowlers tearing their hair out. “Cooky is a world-class performer,” said Root. “He’s proven that time and time again and actually I’d like you to write him off because every time he’s written off he comes back and scores a double hundred. “We have to be realistic about these things. Both top orders have struggled and it might be that’s the case again in Southampton. “But we do need to take our chances and that is something we are working hard on.”