Root vows to captain England ‘his way’

leeds — Joe Root insisted he would captain England “his way” as he gave his first insight into how he would lead the Test side.

Two days on from being named as the successor to former England Test skipper Alastair Cook, Yorkshire batsman Root outlined his approach when speaking to reporters at his Headingley home ground on Wednesday.

“I don’t think you should be scared of asking for help on occasions but for the most part I like to think I’ll be able to put my stamp on things and do things my way,” Root told BBC Radio Five. The 26-year-old Root, previously vice-captain to Cook, has little senior captaincy experience, with just a handful of matches as stand-in Yorkshire skipper behind him.

But he has plenty of time to ease himself into his new role as England’s next Test is not until their July series opener against South Africa at Lord’s.

For the time being, their focus is on limited overs cricket, particularly June’s 50-over Champions Trophy tournament on home soil. Root is a senior batsman in all formats for England but Eoin Morgan will remain the side’s captain in whiteball cricket

“I think the beauty of the position right now is I have plenty of time to think about that,” said Root. I’d like to think I’d be quite instinctive, I want us to always look to win and I want us to be a tough side to play against.

“I think it would be silly of me not to speak to people who have been in the position before... like Cooky, Straussy (England director of cricket Andrew Strauss, Cook’s predecessor as captain).”

Root, who in common with 2005 Ashes-winning skipper Michael Vaughan played for the Sheffield Collegiate club, added: “I’ve obviously known Michael Vaughan for a long time and maybe a few people away from cricket to get a different perspective on things.”

As for his lack of leadership experience, Root — who has an impressive batting average of over 52 in his 53-Test career — said: “I didn’t have much county experience before I got onto the Test team and I managed to find a way to be successful in that environment. — AFP