“I’m really looking forward to leaning on him when I need to”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

England Test captain Joe Root has made it clear that he won’t hesitate to seek advice from his predecessor Alastair Cook.

Cook, who stepped down as skipper in February, laughed off suggestions that his relationship with Root, who was his vice-captain, will be uncomfortable when he returns to the Test team as nothing more than an opening batsman.

When asked the same thing, Root told Sky Sports: “I can’t see why anyone would suggest it [the working relationship with Cook], would be a problem.

“He’s a fantastic bloke to have around. He’s got a lot of experience, has scored a huge amount of runs and I can just see him really flourishing as a batsman, now just with the responsibility of scoring as many runs as possible.

“He’s been fantastic for England cricket, was a fantastic captain, and I’m really looking forward to leaning on him when I need to as a senior player in the England dressing room.”

Root’s first assignment as Test captain will come against South Africa in July, but while he is still working on the philosophy he hopes to instill in the Test team, the 26-year-old confirmed that his priority for now is to be in red-hot form heading into England’s clash with the Proteas.

“In the next few weeks I will talk to a few different people and have a think about where we want to go as a side,” he said. “But there is a lot of white ball cricket to come before the Test matches so we’ll get our teeth into that. I’ll just make sure my game is in good order so that whether I’m representing Yorkshire or England, I’m at the peak of my game.”