Joe Root: Alastair Cook 'right man' to lead England into World Cup

  • Published
Joe Root (left) and Alastair CookImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Joe Root (left) averages 35.85 with the bat in 32 one-day internationals

England batsman Joe Root believes captain Alastair Cook is the right man to lead them into next year's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The 23-year-old has responded to former England spinner Graeme Swann's claim that they need a new captain to have a chance of winning the tournament.

Speaking about the captain, Root said: "He's a fantastic player and has got all of our support."

England face India in the second one-day meeting in Cardiff on Wednesday.

The first ODI of the five-match series, in Bristol on Monday, was abandoned because of rain without a ball being bowled.

England are starting a run of almost seven months of limited-overs action ahead of February's World Cup.

Cook and T20 specialist Alex Hales, who has been called up to make his 50-overs international debut, will open the batting with Ian Bell at number three.

Test captain Cook, 29, is expected to lead the team into the World Cup in February and March, but Swann believes the opening batsman, who has scored 2,967 ODI runs at a strike-rate of 78.16, should have handed over control.

England's schedule before next summer

August-September 2014

5 ODIs & T20 v India (home)

November-December 2014

7 ODIs v Sri Lanka (away)

January-February 2015

ODI tri-series v Australia & India (in Australia)

February-March 2015

ICC World Cup (in Australia & New Zealand)

April-May 2015

3 Tests v West Indies (away)

Speaking about Cook, Root added: "He's our leader in one-day cricket as well as Tests. He's done well over a number of years, and we all back him.

"I think he complements people like Alex Hales - hopefully that can be shown in this series.

"We've also got guys such as (Eoin) Morgan and (Jos) Buttler down the order who, as you've seen, can win games on their own.

"We're in a good place, and this series will be a good judge of that."

Around the BBC

Related Internet Links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.