Root round the world
STARS MUST SHINE ALL OVER GLOBE
JOE ROOT has told England’s young guns to prove they can perform all round the world.
The same top seven batsmen that played and won the last three Tests in South Africa will be given the chance to produce more of the same in Sri Lanka.
Zak Crawley, Dom Sibley and Ollie Pope have all been named in the England side to play in the final first-class warm-up fixture with a Sri Lanka Board President’s XI in Colombo today.
Stuart Broad is missing but the veteran seamer is expected to play in the first Test next week.
And England captain Root said: “You want to have an element of consistency.
“It’s never going to be perfect but, as much as possible, you want guys to get experience in different parts of the world.
“We have got a big tour of India not far away and could face a lot of spin out there as well, so moving forward as a team you want continuity and consistency.
“You look at all the best sides that have been at the top for long periods of time, it’s the same faces playing time and time again.
“We’ve got a responsibility to try to win these two games, but also look at this team, how does it look everywhere we go?” Keaton Jennings and Ben Foakes – two of the stars of the 3-0 win in Sri Lanka in 2018 – have been picked to provide specialist competition.
But Root wants his team to be more than one-trick ponies.
He said: “You want guys like Keaton and Foakesy pushing the guys in possession all the time. “They performed extremely well here last time and are here as options.” It would appear the only decision that could be affected by performances over the next four days is whether Broad returns in place of Chris Woakes or Sam Curran. Root said: “In a tour game you want a bit of inter-squad rivalry and competition.”