Joe Root warns against looking beyond West Indies series

The Ashes can wait. That was the message from Joe Root to his batsmen ahead of a momentous year for English cricket. With just four Tests to prepare before England take on Tim Paine’s Australians at the start of August, places in the top order are still there to be grabbed. But Root warned the likes of Rory Burns and Keaton Jennings that for now, the first Test against the West Indies in Barbados must be their sole focus.

In a rapidly improving England side, it is the top three that remains the main point of contention. Burns made a single fifty in six innings on the recent tour of Sri Lanka; Jennings made a fine century in the first Test at Galle but scored just 41 runs in four knocks thereafter. Both are still vulnerable, and a fine West Indian pace attack of Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel and captain Jason Holder will offer a decent yardstick as to how they might fare against Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc this summer.

“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 the here and now. Their job and their responsibility is not to worry about the Ashes; their job is to perform well for three Test matches here. If they look after that, I’m sure that’ll look after Ashes cricket and whatever comes down the line. We’re going to have to play well for long periods of time, and not be distracted by other things.”

For Burns, the Surrey opener, it will be first sustained exposure to Test match fast bowling, after the spin-heavy attacks he faced in Sri Lanka. “I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Root said. “He’s proven over the course of an English summer that he can score runs. He’ll have faced bouncer barrages. He’s been netting against Morne Morkel [at Surrey] for a whole season, so I’m sure he’ll have been getting a fair few of them.”

England’s approach against the new ball in that series was often to attack with abandon. This series, however, will require more patience. Over the last decade, average run rates in the West Indies are among the lowest in world cricket, at under three an over. Against the craft of Roach, the raw pace of Gabriel and the relentless consistency of Holder, and with a bare minimum of warm-up time, Root stressed that England’s batsmen would need to be adaptable.

“Sometimes the hardest time to bat is that first session, that first day,” Root admitted. “In Sri Lanka we had a lot more knowledge of the pitches, how they might play, and the opposition because Trevor [Bayliss] and Farby [Paul Farbrace] had worked with a lot of the guys out there. We haven’t got the same amount of information out here, but one thing we picked up on that tour is that we became a lot more adaptable. That’s something we are going to have to harness and use a lot throughout this series.”

England will make a late decision on their final XI based on conditions. There is a decent covering of grass on the match wicket, which along with the humid conditions and the Dukes ball should aid swing bowling. Sam Curran would be the major beneficiary if England think swing will be a big factor, with Stuart Broad and Adil Rashid competing for the other spot in the attack. Root himself has been doing plenty of bowling in the nets, which suggests England are considering four seamers, with Root helping out Moeen Ali in the spin department. “It’s going to be a very difficult call,” Root admitted.

But England have made a virtue of their flexibility over the last couple of series, and Root has impressed on his team the importance of thinking as a squad rather than as a playing XI. “Everyone is fully aware that, as in Sri Lanka, it might not be the same XI throughout the tour. You’re never going to win big series away from home with 11 players. Collectively, we’re all going to have to play a part in some shape or form. The sooner everyone can be on board with that, the better.”