Root prepares spinners to open bowling

Joe Root has told England’s spinners that they could open the bowling in Sri Lanka as he plans to end his side’s dismal record in Tests in the country.

It is 17 years since Nasser Hussain’s England recovered from losing the first Test to win 2-1 in Sri Lanka. England have never won in Galle, the venue for the first Test, and when Sri Lanka picked five spinners in their squad last week, two more than England, it gave a big clue as to what Root’s team would face.

Home advantage is never more evident than in Sri Lanka. It is how they hammered South Africa this year and the Sri Lanka coach, Chandika Hathurusingha, used a similar tactic to beat England when he was in charge of Bangladesh two winters ago, preparing turning pitches. England lost 10 wickets in a session to lose the final Test in Dhaka.

Root, buoyed by the series win over India, knows England have to start thinking differently abroad and the most obvious change of tactic could be that Adil Rashid or Jack Leach opens the bowling.

“I was speaking to Rash about him potentially having to take the new ball with Jimmy [Anderson]. More than anything, it is getting your mind right for it and being open to it as a serious consideration and a strong option,” said Root.

“It doesn’t happen very often for English spin bowlers but it’s for the guys to start thinking about that now. They should be aware that bowling with the new ball might be a serious option for me and they are going to have to be ready for it.”

Root expects Test cricket to become even more like the white-ball game over the next few years and while Keaton Jennings and Rory Burns will start the series opening, with Joe Denly waiting in reserve, Jason Roy’s selection for the Lions tour shows England are giving serious thought to how they approach their batting at the top of the order.

“Test cricket is in a transition period but in time we will see a more mirrored image of how one-day cricket is played,” said the England captain.

“It is not a bad thing. It will not reduce games to two or three days if you get surfaces right but I can imagine it will be great fun to watch.”

Joe Root met schoolchildren at the Village Hotel Club in Leeds to launch their community project, The Village Green.