World Twenty20 Zone: Joe Root gives masterclass and backs England to come good
Injured batsman explains how he manipulates the field and gets the ball into the gaps...
Last Updated: 24/03/14 11:55am
Root, currently out injured after breaking his right thumb in eight places, stepped into the net in our studio to demonstrate some of the skills that have helped him to average 50.66 in seven T20 international matches.
Click on the video above to see the 23-year-old discuss his own game, including the importance of setting a strong base, range hitting and how to play the ramp and the sweep - conventional and reverse.
Fantastic
Special guest Root is backing his team-mates to come back strongly in the wake of their nine-run defeat to New Zealand on the Duckworth-Lewis method, in their opening game of the ICC World Twenty20.
Moeen Ali (36 off 23), Michael Lumb (33 off 24) and Jos Buttler (32 off 23) were the main contributors in England's 172-6 but the Black Caps took the points after Brendon McCullum saw his side to 52-1 off 5.2 overs before rain intervened.
Stuart Broad's side must wait until Thursday before their next game against Sri Lanka and while Root admits that will be a tough contest, he believes England have enough depth in their batting line-up to challenge for the title.
"If you looked at the way they played, some of the partnerships were excellent," said Root.
"For Moeen to come into a world tournament and play like that was fantastic. He's done it in the 50-over stuff from his debut to now and hopefully he can continue to do that.
"There are people Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara who didn't get the chance to contribute like they normally do and if they fire as well, we could get some really big scores.
"Sri Lanka look a really good side - they've got a lot of strength in depth - as we saw as they were able to defend 160 against South Africa."
The action continues today in Group 2 as Australia take on Pakistan from 9am on Sky Sports 2 and the defending champions West Indies take on India, from 1pm on the same channel.