Joe Root urges England to forget about the Ashes as he ponders leaving out Stuart Broad

Joe Root has warned his players to forget trying to protect their Ashes places and continue to play in the selfless manner that brought them a whitewash victory in Sri Lanka before Christmas.

Recent Test series in the Caribbean have brought defining moments for England teams. The Peter Moores regime ended in Barbados in 2015, and the shock of being bowled out for 51 in Jamaica five years earlier started the march to No1 in the world.

But Root knows the path he is on and wants his players to do the most un-English thing possible and forget an Ashes series looming at the end of summer.

As Shannon Gabriel looked ominous finding steep bounce when bowling on the pitch beside the Test surface on Tuesday it was a reminder this will be the first real examination for Rory Burns against the short ball, one of those players not certain of starting the Ashes. He netted last summer at Surrey against Morne Morkel but county cricket never replicates the pace and intensity of the Test stage and how he handles a peppering will go a long way to deciding his future.

Other players have wasted too much nervous energy sweating on the prospect of losing an Ashes place and been dropped as a consequence but Burns appears a level character, and will be wise to listen to Root.

“Their job and their responsibility is not to worry about the Ashes, their job is to perform well for three Test matches here,” said Root about Burns and his partner, Keaton Jennings. “To have that as a clear focus, and if they look after that I’m sure that’ll look after Ashes cricket and whatever comes down the line. 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, and make sure we are very aware that these are going to be three hard Test matches where we’re going to have to be consistent. We’re going to have to play well for long periods of time and know exactly what our role is individually, and not be distracted by other things.”

A 3-0 win in Sri Lanka is forgotten now and England face a different challenge in Barbados. In Sri Lanka they had the local knowledge of Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace to guide them after their coaching stints there and they looked more attuned to the cricket required to win than the home side. But in the Caribbean they are going to have to think on their feet, adapt to situations such as the puzzling pitch in Bridgetown which had a big team of ground staff gathered around it on Tuesday like concerned doctors examining a sick patient.

Two days ago it looked a spinners pitch, mottled and resembling a stained “pub carpet” according to one pundit. But it has been watered twice since then much to England’s surprise, confusing all.

If England go with two spinners then Adil Rashid is ahead of Jack Leach for his ability to bowl big turning balls on any surface and defeat tailenders with his googly. The sea breeze blowing across the ground will help Sam Curran’s swing, and the left-arm variation as well as his batting is so valued by Root, especially as this could be a short low scoring contest.

Curran’s selection would mean Stuart Broad is left out again, confirming his new status as a squad player. However, if the ball is going to seam and hold its shine, then Broad is still one of the best in the business with a Dukes ball. Anderson, Stokes and Curran bowled as a trio on the middle pitches at keeper Ben Foakes on Tuesday morning further suggesting they will be Root’s seam attack.

West Indies have a poor record against spin, they lost all 40 wickets to spin in Bangladesh before Christmas, but Bridgetown historically favours pace and seam so Root will sleep on his final decision.

“The message I've tried to get across is the achievement is to get in the squad because you're never going to win big series away from home with XI players,” he said. “The sooner everyone can be on board with that and understand that, the better. It worked extremely well in Sri Lanka, everyone bought in to how we want to go about things and we have to take that forward now. We've seen that it works and creates a really good environment for us to go and play in a relaxed manner and enjoy the tour.

“If we're in a position to leave someone of Stuart's stature out it's not because of lack of form or lack of ability or because his career is coming to an end. Far from that he's actually looking like he's improving all the time.”

England (possible) Burns, Jennings, Bairstow, Root (capt), Stokes, Buttler, Moeen, Foakes (wkt), Curran, Rashid, Anderson.