“If we are going to be the best team in the world, we are going to have to be able to play on wickets that are good and flat”

England captain Joe Root has voiced his support for good Test match wickets which have something for both bowlers and batsmen. He aspires to see his team soar to the No. 1 rank and thus not rely solely on home conditions.

Home advantage and spin-friendly conditions have been the talk of the town ever since England lost the away Test series to India 1-3 in February-March this year. Now, when Virat Kohi’s boys are in the UK, people have kept an eye on how much grass is left on the surfaces. Joe Root expressed his desire to play on good cricketing wickets.

“I encourage playing on really good Test match wickets, I think that’s really important. If we are going to be the best team in the world, we are going to have to be able to play on wickets that are good and flat,” Joe Root said in reply to Sportskeeda’s question during a virtual press conference before the start of the fifth Test.

Root also spoke of the need to be well-equipped to negotiate any conditions, something that his counterpart Virat Kohli has also sought to inculcate in his team.

“We are going to have to manage bowling on wickets that are good for batting for periods, we also got to learn to deal with scoreboard pressure as a batting group, as a spin department we got to have to bowl for long periods of time – hold the game or deal with pressure on spinning wickets towards the back end of a Test match, try to bowl a side out...So from my point of view, I just want in England, in English conditions, good wickets for everyone. And hopefully that’s what we get this week,” Root added.

Root’s men are trailing 1-2 in the series with the final Test scheduled to begin on Friday (September 10) at Old Trafford in Manchester.

“At Old Trafford, it could be very different conditions” – Joe Root

The Indian team during their first training session at Old Trafford

The weather always poses a threat to cricket in England. No forecast or planning can ever thwart the whimsical English skies, as India found out the hard way on the final day of the Nottingham Test.

Joe Root also acknowledged the same while admitting that the conditions in Manchester will be in contrast to what the teams were faced with in the previous four rubbers. The chances of rain also increase in that part of the country.

“At times it can be hampered by the weather because of the amount of rain that we have. It can disrupt how you prepare a pitch, so sometimes you don’t get what you’d expect. For example, at Old Trafford it could be very different conditions to what it could be at somewhere else in the country because of the amount of rainfall that you have and it’s a slightly different square anyway,” Root elaborated.

England have added vice-captain and wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler and left-arm spinner Jack Leach to their 16-member squad for the last Test. While Buttler missed the Oval Test to attend the birth of his second child, Leach was released from the squad after the second game to play for Somerset in the County Championship.