ROOT TIPS THE BALLANCE

Skipper backing Gary to come good at No.3

JOE ROOT is convinced Gary Ballance is ready to give someone a hammering after going into bat for his old mate with the selectors.

Ballance has scored plenty for Yorkshire this season to earn an England recall, but having been dropped in the winter would have hoped to have scored more than his 20 and 34 at Lord’s.

Root, though, is convinced Ballance will come good this week and admitted he had a big say in his return to No.3 in the order, where he enjoyed success during his first stint as an England player.

“I take a lot of responsibility in the selection of the squad,” said skipper Root. “A number of guys were discussed but it was hard to look past the number of runs he’s scored and the way he’s scored them this season.

“All Gary’s success for England and his best scores have come batting at No.3. I think that’s where we’ve had the best out of him in the past and there’s no reason why he can’t do that again in this series.

“He just looks a lot more assured and I honestly believe he is not far away from making a really big score.

“He looks to me as if his game is in really good order and he will be desperate to make his opportunity count this week.”

A successful Ballance at three will also help with Root’s decision to move himself down to No.4 despite some pundits, including Mirror Sport’s Sir Ian Botham, hoping he would stay at first drop.

“Batting at four is where I get the best out of myself, so I thought it was important I made that decision first and foremost,” he added.

“It’s also to separate from the captaincy element, give myself time to get my head around batting and make sure I’m going out there as a batsman, not as a captain.”

With an unchanged team for the second Test at Trent Bridge, Root will be in charge of four seamers who all love bowling here.

“It will be nice for them to be wrestling each other to bowl,” Root said. “That might be a challenge in itself, making sure I pick the right occasion for them to bowl. But I suppose that is the art of captaincy.”