Root holds back from making Stokes his deputy

Joe Root, England’s Test captain, is predictably delighted to see Ben Stokes back in harness. Almost as predictably, Root did not take the opportunity to state that Stokes would be restored as his Test vicecaptain. That would be a step too far in the current legal climate, and James Anderson can be expected to continue in the largely ceremonial

role of vice-captain when the two-test series against New Zealand begins this month.

“He [Ben] worked really hard back home in Durham to make sure, when he did get his opportunity to come back, he was ready,” Root said the day after Stokes’s virtually perfect all-round display in the second one-day international had levelled the five-match series at 1-1.

“He loves playing for England and you can see that in the way he plays. He’s really dedicated and it’s nice to be able to look back on the last game and see him have such an influence on the result.”

And if Stokes had been able to have an influence on the Ashes? “There’s no point looking back at it like that,” Root replied briskly. “The most important [thing] is, in terms of Test cricket, we look forward to this next series and make sure he can build momentum in this one-day series to give him confidence when he does come back to red-ball cricket.”

Root has an immaculate forward-defensive stroke, and out it came when the question of the Test vicecaptaincy arose. “That’s a decision we’ve not agreed yet. I think when we get together as a group, me and Trevor will discuss a few things, but that’s not been discussed.” Going into the third of the five ODIS here tonight (1am UK time) – not at the old Test ground that is the Basin Reserve, because it does not have floodlights, but at the Westpac rugby stadium, where England lost to New Zealand in the T20 tri-series – momentum is

with the tourists. New Zealand never have depth in reserve: if Kane Williamson (hamstring) or Ross Taylor (thigh) cannot bat, they will be gravely depleted. On the other hand, England are waxing: Stokes energised the fielding with his two run-outs in the second ODI, which went some way to camouflage England’s lack of penetrative pace.

But the next stage in England’s evolution as a one-day side is up to Root, rather than Stokes. England’s ODI batsmen are brilliant at blasting away at a run a ball, but they do not score enough centuries – the staple of 300-plus totals; and Root

himself does not score enough hundreds, in any format.

The England batting line-up in this series has accumulated 37 ODI centuries, barely more than Virat Kohli has scored off his own bat; the New Zealand line-up in the first one-dayer had accumulated 42.

The solution, surely, is for Root to open – and Jonny Bairstow to move to No 3 – so that he can use the pace of the ball to play orthodox shots, use his excellent defence if the ball is moving sideways, and look to bat for 40 overs, which would allow everyone else to blast away at the other end.