Root backs Jonny to make No.3 spot his own in England’s quest for No.1
JOE ROOT has told Jonny Bairstow to go out and make himself England’s long-term No.3 batsman on their journey to world No.1.
Bairstow replaces the injured Sam Curran (right) for the third Test which starts tomorrow, while Stuart Broad returns to the side in a straight swap for the rested James Anderson on the same ground where he made his debut 11 years ago.
It will mean the fifth No.3 for England in five games as Root has fearlessly chopped and changed his formula in a bid to find the best combination of players from a growing pool.
And Root admits he is more than happy to be English cricket’s tinkerman if it continues to bring about the success he craves as Test captain after winning four Tests on the bounce and moving to No.2 in the world.
“It’s a really good opportunity for Jonny to take his batting to another level,” said Root. “In the last couple of years he’s been statistically one of the top 10 batters in Test cricket.
“It would be nice to see him really grab No.3 by the scruff of the neck and use it as an opportunity to start really consistently scoring big runs in this format. You’d like to think he’s got everything there to make No.3 a longterm option for him.
“He’s more than capable of doing it.
We all know that whenever Jonny has got a point to prove or is up against it, he generally comes out and does something pretty special. In terms of having a settled batting line-up, especially a top six, it would be ideal to get that settled.
“But if we’re not in that place, we’ve got to keep playing to our strengths.
“We’re not the finished article, we’re still learning and improving, but we’re going in the right direction and sometimes you have to tinker with things to get to where you want eventually.
“From the start we tried to plan out how to get to No.1 over a period of time and we’re pretty much on track to where we want to get to.”
Some might say all this chopping and changing with Ben Stokes shifting back down to No.5, Jos Buttler at six, Live on Sky Sports 1 from 4.15am Mat ............. 59 Inns ............ 102 Runs ........ 3571 HS .......... 167no Ave ........... 37.19 SR .......... 55.46 100s ............... 5 50s .............. 19 6s ............... 22 4s .............. 157 Mat ................ 5 Inns ................ 9 Runs ......... 230 HS ................ 93 Ave ......... 25.55 SR .......... 63.53 100s ............... 0 50s ................ 2 0s .................. 3 4s ................ 32
Moeen Ali at seven and Ben Foakes at eight, smacks of a team in disarray. Yet they have managed to win for the first time in Sri Lanka for 17 years and who would bet against them completing a whitewash next week with their ‘intimidating’ middle order.
With Stokes down to five and Moeen at seven, Root may well have landed on a batting line-up that can not only thrive in the sub-continent but do some serious damage at home too.
Stokes will bowl a few more overs in Colombo with Broad as the only other seamer in the side, and can continue to be the allround match-winner that makes him such a dangerous player.
“Ben is so valuable to our team, he always wants to be involved,” added Root. “He wants the ball, wants to be bowling and wants to try to influence what is going on in the field.”