Joe Root says he is not planning on “ripping up” the work of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum as England prepare to face Pakistan in the first Test in Leeds, on the Yorkshireman’s return to the captaincy. The three-match series is the first since the retirement of Stokes from international cricket and the removal of McCullum from his red-ball role. Root could not escape questions about the former captain and how his side go about replacing him.
I just said we need to look after the here and now and that’s this series.” Root said he has been in “constant contact” with the incoming Test head coach, Stephen Fleming, who will not take up his position until after the Pakistan series, with Marcus Trescothick filling in for now. It’s small things that will make a big difference. It’s not about ripping it up.
It’s about keeping a lot of the good stuff that we’ve been doing for a period of time and that Ben and Baz built for a long while, but making small adjustments that in-game will make a big difference. I think you’ve got to be adaptable and you’ve got to play the situation and the different tempos of the game. It’s never the same throughout the five days.
There are different challenges and you’ve got to adjust to the different ebbs and flows of it throughout that period. When you get your opportunity, you want to put teams under pressure and you want to find ways of driving the game forward, but that might look different in different circumstances.” Root will be up against a new Test captain. Babar Azam has been ruled out of the series opener after hurting his right hand in Pakistan’s warm-up fixture at Beckenham last week, prompting Salman Ali Agha to take the role at Headingley.
It is a major blow for a side who have not won a Test series away from home since 2023. England are yet to name an XI as they select from a squad that has mostly been in Hundred action over the last few weeks, with Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson in the Manchester Super Giants side that triumphed on Sunday. Both were present at training on Tuesday, with Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse, Matthew Fisher, Sam Cook and Ollie Robinson the other seam options available to Root.
Dan Lawrence is locked into the side at No 6, in effect replacing Stokes, with Root talking up the 29-year-old’s off-spin. He’s played some brilliant innings and is in great form and I think is a very underrated bowler. So he offers a great amount.
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