{"id":742216,"date":"2026-08-18T20:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/742216\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T20:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:40:11","slug":"returning-captain-joe-root-aiming-to-build-on-best-of-stokes-era-against-pakistan-joe-root","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/742216\/","title":{"rendered":"Returning captain Joe Root aiming to build on best of Stokes era against Pakistan | Joe Root"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Root says he is not planning on \u201cripping up\u201d the work of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum<\/a> as England prepare to face Pakistan in the first Test in Leeds, on the Yorkshireman\u2019s return to the captaincy.<\/p>\n

The three-match series is the first since the retirement of Stokes<\/a> from international cricket and the removal of McCullum from his red-ball role.<\/p>\n

Root could not escape questions about the former captain and how his side go about replacing him. \u201cIt\u2019s a big void to fill and someone that\u2019s been ever-present for the best part of 15 years, so clearly it\u2019s been different,\u201d said Root of not having Stokes around. \u201cOne thing I think is really important for all of us is we don\u2019t get too stuck in the last six months and we don\u2019t get too caught up in the next six months.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a unique series that we find ourselves in, and we\u2019ve got to be very present throughout the whole of it, and understand the different challenges that Pakistan present us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether he can see Stokes returning, Root would not be drawn. \u201cWho knows?\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s a question for Ben. I just said we need to look after the here and now and that\u2019s this series.\u201d<\/p>\n

Root said he has been in \u201cconstant contact\u201d with the incoming Test head coach, Stephen Fleming<\/a>, who will not take up his position until after the Pakistan series, with Marcus Trescothick filling in for now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a huge amount that we need to change. It\u2019s small things that will make a big difference. It\u2019s not about ripping it up. It\u2019s about keeping a lot of the good stuff that we\u2019ve been doing for a period of time and that Ben and Baz built for a long while, but making small adjustments that in-game will make a big difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe there is a style, one way of playing Test cricket. I think you\u2019ve got to be adaptable and you\u2019ve got to play the situation and the different tempos of the game. It\u2019s never the same throughout the five days. There are different challenges and you\u2019ve got to adjust to the different ebbs and flows of it throughout that period. When you get your opportunity, you want to put teams under pressure and you want to find ways of driving the game forward, but that might look different in different circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Root will be up against a new Test captain. Babar Azam has been ruled out of the series opener after hurting his right hand in Pakistan\u2019s warm-up fixture at Beckenham last week, prompting Salman Ali Agha to take the role at Headingley. It is a major blow for a side who have not won a Test series away from home since 2023.<\/p>\n

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Dan Lawrence bowls in training before the first Test against Pakistan. Photograph: Gareth Copley\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

England are yet to name an XI as they select from a squad that has mostly been in Hundred action over the last few weeks, with Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson in the Manchester Super Giants side that triumphed on Sunday<\/a>. Both were present at training on Tuesday, with Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse, Matthew Fisher, Sam Cook and Ollie Robinson the other seam options available to Root.<\/p>\n

Dan Lawrence is locked into the side at No 6, in effect replacing Stokes, with Root talking up the 29-year-old\u2019s off-spin. \u201cDan\u2019s been an exceptional player for Surrey throughout the whole season. His numbers are amazing. He\u2019s played some brilliant innings and is in great form and I think is a very underrated bowler. So he offers a great amount. Clearly it is a different makeup to the team and a different balance to things, but there\u2019s no reason why that can\u2019t be successful either.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Root says he is not planning on \u201cripping up\u201d the work of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":742217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-742216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=742216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/742217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=742216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=742216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=742216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}