Root urges patience as England seek new Test match approach

England in New Zealand 2019/20

Cricket365
November 15, 2019

England captain Joe Root has preached the virtue of patience with both bat and ball as he and head coach Chris Silverwood plot a way to take the Test team forward.

Silverwood has already suggested he wants a more attritional approach to batting after succeeding Trevor Bayliss, whose ‘positive and aggressive’ philosophy was blamed for a number of alarming collapses.

England have been skittled for less than 100 three times this year while on four occasions since 2016 they have lost all 10 wickets in a session.

READ: England bowlers toil: Archer fires, Curran draws a blank

Root, though, avoided solely focusing on the batsmen as he looks at areas to improve.

While his bowlers have thrived in English conditions, they have sometimes been found wanting on flat pitches away from home, where they have won just once in their last six overseas series – whitewashing Sri Lanka last year.

With speculation mounting that the wickets in New Zealand ahead of next week’s first Test may be unresponsive, Root has challenged his bowlers to settle for a containing role to assert pressure, if necessary.

READ: NZ captain Kane Williamson makes Test squad to face England

That tactic was notably attempted in the 2017-18 Ashes, only for Steve Smith to outlast England’s efforts, but it does not seem to have dissuaded Root.

He said: “One thing we’ve got to continue to keep improving, and I think we were brilliant last winter, was finding different ways of winning Test matches away from home, exploiting different surfaces, being a bit more adaptable.

“You can fall into the trap when playing in English conditions as they’ve been in the last couple of years, to get used to Test cricket being played in fast-forward – and it’s not like that everywhere you go.

“So we’ve got to be prepared to adapt to that and manage those conditions. Maybe be a little more patient at times in terms of trying plans for a little bit longer and being a bit more relentless.

“Whether it’s controlling the rate with the ball, building pressure that way, or being prepared to score at two an over for 150 overs, if that’s what it takes to make 400 then we’ve got to be prepared to do that.”

Root – who will shuffle back down to four in the batting order, starting in Mount Maunganui – says he and Silverwood have identical visions for the Test side.

Root said: “Silvers has come in and had his own ideas and we’re very much on the same page about how we take this team forward.

“We’ve made it very clear to the group how we see that happening over the next couple of years and that’s exciting.”

One of their key priorities is to win back the Ashes Down Under in 2021-22, and Root is looking at the triumphant 2010-11 campaign as a possible blueprint – especially the experience in that squad.

Root said: “We’ve 25 Tests between now and then. If you get a core group of players together in that period and they share experiences and they become more experienced individually, it’s going to stand you in good stead.

“You look at the side that won there in 2010 and the majority had played between 40 and 80 Tests. It does count for a lot.”