England Test captain Joe Root taking help from baseball to nurture his big-hitting

England Test skipper Joe Root organised a special power-hitting session prior to the team’s practice session on to Wednesday to strengthen his bid to play all forms of the game for the national team. He is taking tips from baseball to improve his technique.

Root is ranked No.4 in the world in both T20I and ODI cricket, but with the Champions Trophy starting in only over a week, he reckons there is room for improvement. Appointed as England’s new Test captain in February, Root engaged in a one-on-one with former Hampshire batsman Julian Wood, who also played Major League Baseball side Texas Rangers.

Seems like Root does not want to fear being eased out of his country’s T20 side because the move to nurture his big hitting capabilities has come only a few weeks after Sportsmail revealed the that Root may be removed from the T20 side due to a saturated international schedule in tandem with availability of a pool of new T20 talents.

Wood was recommended to the England Test skipper by batting coach of England Graham Thorpe.

“Just want to keep developing my game” – Joe Root 

‘I just want to keep developing my game and make sure that I’m not left standing still,’ Root was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail. ‘This was a good opportunity to try something completely different. I wanted to see if anything he had to offer would fit into how I play.’

In ODIs, the batsman averages 48.81. But in Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Alex Hales and Liam Livingstone, the team has six hitters. Root will have to work on adding power to his batting since he is known more for stroke-making than a pure grunt.

He will anyhow be pivotal to England’s luck in the Champions Trophy to be played in their own backyard from June 1.