“I didn’t try my best but I hadn’t struggled. It’s been a pity I haven’t gotten those big scores that contribute so much to winning games. That is lead me to move forward. ”
Last updated: 12/01/21 3:20 pm
3:12
Joe Root is adamant in making game-winning scores for England and hopes a change in battery mode will help him
Joe Root is adamant in making game-winning scores for England and hopes a change in battery mode will help him
England captain Joe Root says he has performed well in test cricket – and wants to start making game-winning scores as he closes on his 100th game in shape.
Root will play its 98th Test when England take on Sri Lanka in Galle from Thursday, after running 7,823 runs, including 17 cents, at an average of 47.99 over its previous 97 matches .
However, the England captain was on average under 40 in 2019 and failed to turn one of his four fifties over eight Tests in 2020 into a century – leaving him hungry to the stats develop that during the 17-Test year.
Sri Lanka vs England
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England’s two-game series in Sri Lanka has been followed by a four-game series against India since early February, while a 12-month bumper also includes a home series against India. and Ashes ’trip to Australia, with Root wanting to play a fundamental role in winning for his side.
“I am acutely aware that in the year or so of my career I have achieved to my own standards,” said Root Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton is ahead of the opener of the series against Sri Lanka.
“That happens from time to time and trying to stay as high as possible is something I think I got better at – realizing that you can’t have everything. you always have.
Root closes in on 100 appearances and 8,000 runs in test cricket
“I didn’t try my best but I didn’t struggle at all. It’s just been sad that I didn’t get those big scores that really contribute to winning games.
“I’ve visited in here and there with the weird score of fifty and more but it doesn’t feel the same as batter – you want to make the big contributions, helping the side get over the line.
“That’s the direction for me to move forward – to make more hundreds, to make those big, successful scores.
“There’s no better feeling than doing well and winning games. Arranging it for your boys to go out there and take 20 wicks with you or be there at the end after for them to score off.
“Hopefully there will be several times like that in the next 17 test matches.”
The 30-year-old – who scored 74 unbeaten in England’s warm-up match at Hambantota last week – is hoping tweaks to his batting style will pay off.
He said: “I’ve been doing a great job recently trying to get more rhythm back into my bat.
“For a long time in my career I had a movement that looked very fluent and natural but it had to work really hard. I reached a point where it was no longer consistent and I found myself getting into difficult careers.
“I felt very vulnerable and sides found a way to take advantage of it and I had to find a different way to be more secure at the center, more technically savvy and harder to get out of. .
“I have now found a good balance so hopefully I can apply that in the next six Tests, score big and put myself in a great position to go. -into the rest of the year.
Root did not get a hundred in eight tests in 2020
“You can do the right things away from the games but it’s about what you do in the middle.
“I feel like my game is good against spinning. There should be a lot of that this winter and I hope that can be in my hands.”
Root scored 124 during the second test of England’s 3-0 sweep in Sri Lanka in late 2018, a series in which 100 wickets fell to spinning a bowling.
However, the baton says it would be “dangerous and lazy” to expect the conditions to be the same for just over two years.
Root also wants to avoid the “sloppiness” that England often saw miss the first Test of a series, something that happened in New Zealand and South Africa last winter.
1:23 Root says England will not have ‘lazy’ predictive views on the situation in Sri Lanka as they look to win a second straight test series on the island
On Sri Lanka, Root said: “We are well aware that the conditions could be very different from the last time we played here.
“We don’t have many predictable ideas about what we’re going to build. It is dangerous and lazy to walk into a row like that.
“In a series of two games like this you have to be on the ball and you have to start well. We were beaten on previous rounds by being sloppy in that first session and the series is over so we have to make sure we put it on and read what’s right in front of us.
“We have to keep looking at doing what we’ve done over the last year – get those big first-innings, 400-plus runs, and then be smart with how we are going to watch 20 wick. Control the rate and add. pressured for long periods by the ball. “
Hear more from Root during the first day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and England, which is live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Premier Sports from 4am on Thursday. Our extended interview with the England captain runs at lunchtime from around 6.30am.