ROOT MUST STAMP HIS AUTHORITY ON TEAM AGAIN

THIS is a hugely important game for Joe Root, who has been out-captained and out-played by Jason Holder. You can have a bad game as captain and he’s had a couple of bad games. He needs to get the authority back he seemed to have against Sri Lanka and at times against India. The thing I would like to see him do in the field, as I noted last summer, is be a bit firmer with senior bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad. Occasionally against India, Broad was trying to sort his own field out, then he’d turn to Anderson to ask his opinion, when Root (right) was trying to do what he wanted to do. He came here on such a high after beating India 4-1 and then winning 3-0 away, albeit against an average Sri Lanka side. He needs to reassert himself and the confidence of a score will help him. His desire to turn around his personal form of 40 runs in four innings was highlighted by the fact that he arranged a one-to-one session with batting coach Mark Ramprakash earlier this week on a team day off. As a batsman I have a lot of sympathy with him as three out of the four dismissals have been to absolute beauties. England’s preparation for this series was poor, and through no fault of Root’s he finds himself out of the rhythm of batting. He will have done some technical work — his back leg has been slipping to the leg-side a bit — but it is more about rediscovering that rhythm. He would have hit so many balls over a two-hour period. Ideally you would want that to happen in the middle, and in our day you would get a tour match in between Tests. The top-order players look like they are missing that. Everyone is naturally talking about the Ashes, given its close proximity, but I don’t believe in momentum from one series to another. How England play in this game will have no bearing on that series, but when you’re playing Australia, you are going to come up against some quick bowlers and be tested as a batsman. I am looking to see how Joe Denly plays the quick stuff. Rory Burns looks like an organised player. Can he do that for another game? There have been times when people have been left out when they were on the verge of sealing a spot. So Denly and Burns don’t want low scores here. Get a big hundred and make yourself undroppable. The series might be lost but there are great opportunities for people to make statements.