Root’s main focus to get his team back on track

ENGLAND will travel north to Headingley with numerous problems after their heavy defeat against Pakistan at Lord’s — but fretting about the content of a match-fixing documentary is not one of them.

Joe Root made that fact abundantly clear as, having conceded his team under-performed again in their ninewicket defeat in the first NatWest Test, he joined coach Trevor Bayliss and England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Tom Harrison with an emphatic denial of claims made by Al Jazeera.

While Root and his players are, therefore, unconcerned about the Middle East-based TV station’s programme, Cricket’s Match-Fixers — containing spot-fixing allegations in England’s 2016 Test defeat to India in Chennai — top of his agenda is how to get his team back on track on his home ground on Friday.

Pakistan raced to victory early on day four after bowling England out for a second innings 242 and then knocking off the 64 they needed in only 12.4 overs, inflicting a sixth defeat in eight Tests for Root’s men.

Asked at his post-match press conference about the Al Jazeera documentary, he said: “All the players have been briefed by the ECB, and been told there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. I’ve just been told to strongly deny the accusations, because it sounds quite ridiculous really.”

Instead, his most pressing issues are England’s travails against Pakistan.

“As a group of players we’ve got to focus on next week, making sure we prepare well, and let the people in charge look after this — because I’m sure it’s nothing,” Root added.

Fernando Alonso