Four will continue to be a lucky number for Root

Joe Root intends to continue batting at four for England this winter as he feels he can have a greater influence on their Test fortunes in that position.

Root had been at first drop for the summer but moved down a place midway through the penultimate Test against India at the Ageas Bowl before capping England’s 4-1 series victory with a sparkling century at the Oval.

A knock of 125 was his first threefigure score in 28 Test innings and reinforced his view he is better served coming in at four in the order.

Furthermore, Root believes being comfortable in his own role can strengthen England, whose top order is far from certain ahead of three November Tests in Sri Lanka.

Root told Press Association Sport: “I think four is where I get the best out of myself. I think that’s probably where I’m most settled, having batted at three for a good period of time now.

“I don’t think you can ever pin things down too specifically but, for now, I genuinely think that me batting at four is going to give us a better opportunity of making big scores and give us better chances of winning.

“I thought for a while that would be at three but that’s changed and I think it’s really important the team’s best interests come first.”

It has been a patchy past few months for Root, whose 824 runs at 36.33 represent his lowest return in an English summer.

He followed up back-to-back one-day international centuries against India with a fluent 80 in the opening Test before being dismissed in the first of two run-outs in the series. However, he added: “Two run-outs when I was set and going – if I converted those into hundreds, which I felt in a really good position to do that on both occasions, it looks a very different summer.”