Impressive Root set for latest Test with England

The trio are set to fly the flag for the county as England look to build on their 2-1 win in India before Christmas.

Root, 22, is poised to retain his place at No 6 after impressing on debut against India last month, when he scored 73 and 20 not out in the final Test in Nagpur.

The Sheffield-born batsman furthered his credentials yesterday with a maiden one-day international half-century (57 not out) in a five-wicket defeat to India in Mohali, where the home side took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series that ends on Sunday.

Bairstow, 23, is likely to be chosen as back-up to wicketkeeper Matt Prior and also as a reserve batsman after missing recent fixtures due to a family illness.

And although Bresnan, 27, has had a disappointing year by his standards, he, too, is expected to be in the squad that will be announced at midday.

However, there is likely to be disappointment for batsmen Eoin Morgan and Samit Patel, along with spinner James Tredwell.

England play Test matches in Dunedin (March 6-10), Wellington (March 14-18) and Auckland (March 22-26), prior to which they contest three Twenty20 internationals followed by three one-day internationals.

Root’s innings yesterday was a welcome highlight on a disappointing day for England as their hopes of following up Test glory in India with one-day success came to naught.

Batting at No 6, Root injected impetus towards the end of the innings, scoring his runs from just 45 balls with eight fours and a six.

England made 257-7 from their 50 overs after losing the toss, captain Alastair Cook (76 from 106 balls) joint top-scoring with Kevin Pietersen (76 from 93).

Ravindra Jadeja returned 3-39 for India, who replied with 258-5 and reached their target with 15 balls to spare.

Suresh Raina led them home with an unbeaten 89 from 79 balls and Rohit Sharma contributed 83 from 93 balls, but England should have had Raina for 41 when he was caught at slip off Steven Finn only for umpire Steve Davis to call dead ball after the pace man once more collided with the stumps in his delivery stride.

Finn’s habit has often proved costly and match officials are understood to have notified England that any further disturbance of the stumps would lead to a dead ball after the Middlesex man twice transgressed in the first ODI.

Cook admitted the warning had slipped his mind and said the whole issue had become a grey area.

“There was a little bit of confusion,” said Cook.

“Apparently, we had been told that because he (Finn) knocked them over twice in one of the previous games he was a ‘serial offender’ and that he was going to get called straight away.

“In the heat of the moment I think a few of us might have forgotten that. Whether we’d been told that, I wasn’t entirely sure.

“At the time I didn’t know, but apparently the umps were pretty clear that they had told us that so I must have been deaf when I was listening to them.”

The Finn issue was an unfortunate sideshow as England delivered an improved display following heavy defeats in Kochi and Ranchi.

Cook was pleased with his team’s batting performance and singled out Root for special praise.

“He played really well,” said Cook, “and he’s good at moving the ball around. The shots he had at the end; I don’t think we’ve seen them before.

“His strike rate of 130 or thereabouts is really pleasing, and the way he handles himself is excellent. I’m actually quite pleased with the way that we played.

“We stuck in there with the bat and we did have the real tough end of conditions, but we held our nerve, which we had not done in the last two games. We can take really good stuff out of it; the last two games we couldn’t do that.”

Root’s innings was not without luck: he was dropped twice but played an inventive hand, improvising in trademark fashion with delicate sweeps and paddle shots.

There was also a swept six off the spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

Yorkshire pace bowler Iain Wardlaw has been invited to train with the Scotland side.

The 27-year-old, who was born in Dewsbury but has a Scottish father, will travel to Edinburgh over the next two weekends to train at the Scotland National Cricket Academy.

If successful, Wardlaw could force his way into Scotland’s plans for the ICC World Cricket League games against Afghanistan in the United Arab Emirates in March.

“It is a great honour to be called into the training camp,” said Wardlaw. “It did come as a shock, but I’m relishing the opportunity and I hope I can impress enough to force my way into the squad for the matches against Afghanistan.”

England Test squad (probable): A Cook (captain), N Compton, J Trott, K Pietersen, I Bell, J Root, J Bairstow (wk), M Prior (wk), T Bresnan, Stuart Broad, G Swann, S Finn, James Anderson, M Panesar, G Onions.