SL v ENG 2018: Joe Root believes England on right track to become best in Test cricket

Joe Root hopes Jonny Bairstow become a long-term fixture at No.3.

Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow during net session in Sri Lanka | Getty Images

England Test captain Joe Root believes that tinkering with the things is must to get the result actually they want, saying the Lions are "on right track" to become the world's best team in Test cricket.

There are many cricketing greats and pundits who have been criticizing the management for a lot of experiments in the playing XI, but Root believes that repeated tinkering of England's batting order is important for the side to get the proper balance in the squad to achieve their goal.  

Root told reporters ahead of third Test in Sri Lanka, “In terms of having a settled batting line-up, especially a top six, it would be ideal to get that settled down. But if we're not in that place and not in that position, we've got to keep playing to our strengths.”

The captain continued, “We're not the finished article, we're still learning and still improving, but we're going in the right direction and sometimes you have to tinker with things to get to where you want eventually. From the start, we tried to plan out how to get to number one over a period of time and we're pretty much on track to where we want to get to.”

Meanwhile, fit-again wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow will bat at No.3 in the third and final Test, starting from November 23 at Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, and he became the fifth man for England to bat in this position in the last five matches.

However, England have delivered results in the last games of the longest format with the frequent changes, beating India and now Sri Lanka, Root believes that it is a great opportunity for Bairstow take his batting to another level, hoping the batsman become a long-term fixture in this position.

Root signed off by saying, “I think it's a really good opportunity for Jonny to take his batting to another level. In the last couple of years, he's been statistically one of the top 10 batters in the world in Test cricket. It would be nice to see him really grab number three by the scruff of the neck and use it as an opportunity to start really consistently scoring big runs in this format. You'd like to think he's got everything there to make number three a long-term option for him.”

(With Sportstarlive Inputs)

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 22 Nov, 2018

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