New England skipper Ben Stokes has disclosed that the star batter and former captain Joe Root will bat at number four in the batting lineup during the upcoming Test series against New Zealand.
Root, who stood down last month after five years in the role, had moved up to number three for England’s most-recent tour of the West Indies that resulted in a 1-0 series defeat. The former England captain has an excellent average of 51.27 when batting at number four, which is almost 12 runs greater than his mark (39.67) when batting at three.
“I’ve already spoken with Joe. I’ve asked him to go back to four and I’m going to be at six. Wherever Joe bats he gets runs, but his best position is at four. Joe will probably be averaging 90 now instead of 60 (Root’s average in 2021), so it’ll be good,” ICC quoted Ben Stokes as saying.
“I feel him at four and me at six gives us a bit of experience in that gap. So you can obviously see where the places are opening up for people to put their hands up, it’s three and five,” he added.
“I now feel I have to follow a lot more of the county games now to see who is scoring runs rather than just checking the Durham score,” said Stokes. The first Test between England and New Zealand gets underway on June 2 at the Lord’s Cricket Ground.