FORCING THE ISSUE

performance. He has been phenomenal for us. His record last year for us was outstanding. His challenge will be to back that up.”

Momentum was something England failed to pick up after winning the first Test in their previous series as South Africa responded to their mauling at Lord’s by thrashing the hosts by 340 runs in the second Test.

The odds on an inexperienced Windies side doing likewise are longer but Root is keen for his team to learn from how it went wrong at this stage of the previous series.

“After a strong performance

“It’s just having that mentally of being ruthless and at no point easing off the gas when we get into a position of strength. When we feel like we’re on top, we have to keep driving that forward”

JOE ROOT