Before starting the three-match away Test series against the hosts Sri Lanka, English Test skipper Joe Root claims that the experienced pacer Stuart Broad could play a massive part in this Test series and also spoke out about the wicketkeeping role while Jonny Bairstow still needs time to recover from an ankle ligament injury.
After their dominating crickets in the limited-overs series on this Sri Lanka tour as England won the five-match ODI series by 3-1 and also won the one-off T20I match, the visitors are now focusing for the three-match Test series, starting from November 6.
Prior to that Test series, England has started to play two 2-day warm-up games against Sri Lanka Board XI from Tuesday (October 30). Before the first two-day warm-up game, the English Test skipper Joe Root believes Broad can still play a massive part for England in the upcoming Test series, despite currently struggling to maintain his consistency with the ball in hand.
Root said about Broad, “I wouldn’t say it’s a changing of the guard and I wouldn’t say he’s in a weaker position than he has been previously. He (Broad) could still definitely play a massive part within the three-match series and definitely in the first game is an option.”
The English Test skipper further added, “We’ve been away from home for a number of times now and struggled so finding a different formula with him or without him, I don’t think it weakens him as a player or shows where his game is going.”
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However, Broad has slightly improved in his bowling from the last year as he has taken 35 Test wickets in this calendar year (2018), while he picked up 30 Test wickets in the previous year (2017). Root also supports these stats as he also believes that the right-arm experienced pacer is improving in his bowling.
Root said, “I think he’s actually improving all the time and using his experience wisely. His action is as strong as it has ever been, but whether we have to find a different formula, we’ll just wait and see.”
Meanwhile, the wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow is likely to miss the first Test of the series due to an ankle ligament injury, which he suffered during the training ahead of the fourth ODI of this tour and missed the remaining limited-overs matches in this tour.
Talking about Bairstow’s present fitness status, Root told BBC Sport, “It’s day-by-day with Jonny at the minute. He’s actually made good strides and recovered a little bit quicker than we anticipated, but it’s still a long way to go.
“Although Jonny will be a big loss, we’ve got great players that can come in and rebalance the team. It’s obviously a big three-match series, so we need to weigh all that up and make a decision closer to the first game.”
Due to Bairstow’s unavailability for the first Test, Jos Buttler is likely to take the wicketkeeping role for the England cricket team in that Test match. However, Ben Foakes’ national team call-up gives them wider options for this wicketkeeping role.
Root said about this, “That (Jos Buttler wicketkeeping in the first Test) will probably be the likely scenario. But the reason we called Ben up is because he’s a high-quality keeper and we give ourselves another way of balancing the side out and give ourselves a chance of winning. These are all different options we’ve given ourselves going into this series and it’s a really nice position to be in.”
As the experienced Test opener Alastair Cook has retired from the international cricket recently, England team will have a big challenge to set their top-order batting. As Root is likely to take his favourite spot no.4, Moeen Ali or Joe Denly are favourite for the no.3 batting option along with the openers Keaton Jennings and Rory Burns.
Root said on this, “I think I will be batting at No. 4. Certain situations may dictate the order and we don’t need to be as set in stone as having a really rigid order but for most of it I’ll look to bat at four.
“I’ve got a strong idea of what the core of it looks like, but we have got some great options. We are going to make sure we’ve got a very balanced side that gives ourselves the best chance of winning in these conditions.”
