Joe Root’s return boosts up England ahead of second Test against West Indies
Joe Root in all probability will replace Joe Denly at No.3. Denly was the one who did not get going at all in the first Test match. It will be hard to drop Zak Crawley who made 76 in a second innings
England received a much-needed boost ahead of the second Test match against West Indies at Manchester as regular captain Joe Root joined the squad. Root had missed the first Test match Southampton, which England lost to West Indies by four wickets to trail the three-match series 1-0.
Root has now rejoined the squad, with West Indies needing just one win from the two remaining Tests of the campaign at Old Trafford to clinch a first series win in England for 32 years.
Although England lost the first Test match but Root won't be in an unfamiliar situation. England have now lost the opening match of a series for the eighth time in ten campaigns, a run dating back to the 2017/18 Ashes in Australia.
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Most recently in South Africa they did recover from a heavy defeat in the first Test to win that series 3-1.
Root in all probability will replace Joe Denly at No.3. Denly was the one who did not get going at all in the first Test match. It will be hard to drop Zak Crawley who made 76 in a second innings where England's loss of five wickets for 30 runs proved more pivotal to the result than their controversial decision to omit veteran paceman Stuart Broad.
"We're all desperate to see Joe do really well," said England coach Chris Silverwood. "But obviously he's under pressure a little bit."
"Zak is improving constantly. I think he certainly showed maturity and the innings he played was very good."
England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler dropped Jermaine Blackwood early in the West Indies' batsman's match-clinching innings of 95 on Sunday's final day at Southampton.
And another pair of low scores left Buttler with a Test average of just 23.22 since the start of 2019 and now only one hundred in 75 innings.
But even though England have gifted gloveman Ben Foakes waiting in the wings, Silverwood said: "First and foremost we want to give Jos the best opportunity to succeed.
"He just needs to go and make those big scores now doesn't he? He knows that as well."
Meanwhile, with six Tests in seven weeks, including three against Pakistan, England could yet recall Broad in Manchester, having already said they plan to rotate their battery of quicks.
