Tuesday 21 April 2015 12:28, UK
Joe Root says he is not thinking about the England captaincy at this stage of his career.
The 24-year-old has been touted as a potential Test skipper in the future, with Sky Sports commentator David Lloyd flagging him up as a candidate during last summer’s series against India.
But Root insists his sole focus is on playing cricket and has pledged his total support to Alastair Cook, speaking of his importance to the current England team.
“Of course I’d like to (be captain) but I don’t think about it at moment,” he told Sky Sports. “Cooky (Alastair Cook) is a fantastic leader, role model, trainer and he works hard.
“Going forward he’s a massive part of the dressing room and he’s very important to the team.”
Cook has been strongly criticised for his captaincy skills and his batting was once again under the spotlight in the first Test against the West Indies last week.
The opener posted scores of 11 and 13 to make it 33 innings since his most recent century.
But Root believes the tough times are when players get the best out of each other and that it is difficult to prepare people for the captaincy role.
“To be honest I’m not sure there’s much you can do,” he said. “Some people fit naturally into the role. Experience is important and having young players with a few senior players is the key.
“When you start playing together and going through tough periods then you start figuring out what works and gets the best out of each other and find out more and more about each other.”
Root performed well in the first Test in Antigua, scoring 83 and 59 with the bat and taking two wickets during the West Indies’ second innings.
The Yorkshireman says he will never base his batting style on survival and will always look to take on the bowling attack.
“On both occasions I was trying to find a way of putting them back under pressure,” he said. “I thought if you just sat in and survive you’ll get one with your name on it.
“If you put pressure back on the bowler then he knows he’s under pressure as well.
“You have to break it down into small targets and before you know it you are off and running. You have to stop thinking about surviving and look to score and hopefully that will continue through the series.”
Watch the second Test between West Indies and England live from 2:30pm on Tuesday on Sky Sports 2HD.
