Joe Root tells England players to focus on West Indies and not the Ashes

Joe Root has ordered his players to forget about jostling for Ashes places as they look to become only the second England team in 51 years to win a Caribbean Test series.

Speaking before Wednesday’s first Test against West Indies at the Kensington Oval, where around 9,000 travelling fans will be in full voice, the message from the England captain was to focus on the present and back up their 3-0 win in Sri Lanka earlier in the winter.

Root said: “Their job and their responsibility is not to worry about this summer’s Ashes, their job is to perform well for three Tests here. I don’t want the guys to be playing for stuff that’s going to be happening in six months’ time.

“We have to look after here and now. We’re going to have to play well for long periods of time and know exactly what our roles are individually, not be distracted by other things.”

This diktat came in response to a question about Keaton Jennings and Rory Burns, who are looking to cement their opening partnership before the summer visit of Australia and now face a significantly spicier challenge to that in Sri Lanka when Shannon Gabriel and Kemar Roach are thundering in with the new ball.

The selection debate here surrounds the makeup of the bowling attack given a patchy surface that was being watered 24 hours before the start of the match. Stuart Broad or Sam Curran could make way to accommodate either Jack Leach or Adil Rashid from the previously expected XI, should spin be the way to go. If Broad is not selected, then so be it.

Root said: “[It would not] be because of lack of form or ability or because his career is coming to an end. Far from it. He’s actually looking like he’s improving all the time: his action is getting stronger, he’s taking hat-tricks in warm-up games and looking a very serious threat.

“If anything it shows we’re going to balance the team to suit conditions, we’re not necessarily going to play our 11 best players. From that we’ll hopefully become more consistent away from home.

“We’re coming off the back of three brilliant Test matches, we work very well as a group and we’re all in a good place coming into the game. Whoever misses out is going to be very unfortunate but I am sure they’ll be ready for the second one if they’re not required here.”

The International Cricket Council named its World XI for 2018 on Tuesday and of the two teams on show only the West Indies captain, Jason Holder, made the cut. After 12 months in which England beat India, the world’s No 1 side, at home and whitewashed a team in the subcontinent, Root views the snub as positive.

“We have some wonderful players but for me as captain it is very pleasing because it shows that we are not reliant on one or two players. Everyone at some point is chipping in and performing. And the more consistent individually we can become, the more we will see this team develop.”

Tradition seems to dictate that a forthright Yorkshireman writes off West Indies before a series. In 2015 the incoming chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, Colin Graves, called the hosts “mediocre” before they went on to claim a 1-1 series draw on this ground, and this time Geoffrey Boycott has called Holder’s side “average, ordinary cricketers” in his Telegraph column.

Like four years ago, this may soon become the latest wallpaper on the walls of the Windies’ dressing room in the Sir Garfield Sobers Pavilion, something Holder reminded Graves of when the pair crossed paths at the British High Commission on Sunday evening.

Holder said: “I saw Colin a few days ago and we had a good giggle about that. I’ve not seen or heard the comments by Boycott but it’s normal. We expect this sort of thing. It gets us going.”