Joe Root in no mood to pressurize new entrants of England team

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) recently named the 13-man English squad for the home Test series against Windies. Two among the surprise inclusions in the list were leggie Mason Crane and uncapped Surrey batsman Mark Stoneman. English skipper Joe Root is very excited to see the new faces in the team and believes they will step up to the occasion.

The 3-match Test series against Windies is the only opportunity for England ahead of their Ashes fixtures later this year. Hence, they are in a process of trimming down and finalizing the squad for the mega event. Joe Root noted that it is exciting to have young players like Mason Crane in the team. However, he feels that a lot of pressure must not be put on the youngster.

“It’s exciting as a captain because he is a very talented young cricketer and he’s got a very bright future. But it’s important we don’t put too much pressure on him or expect too much from him at such a young age. He is fully deserving of the opportunity he’s got in this squad and I’m very excited to see him go about his business. He’s a very confident young man and hopefully he has a lot to offer England,” quoted Joe Root.

On plethora of debutants this season

If Crane and Stoneman make their debuts in the upcoming series, that would essentially mean England would have fielded as many as 5 debutants in this season – the others being Dawid Malan, Tom Westley, and Toby Roland Jones. Stoneman is likely to make his debut as the opening partner of Alastair Cook. For Crane to make his debut, England will have to play with two spinners – the other one being Moeen Ali, their in form all-rounder. Joe Root hopes that the ones who have made their debuts already will continue to impress and the others will step up too.

“Ideally we’d want to nail it down soon but it’s a great opportunity for players to throw their hands up for what is an exciting winter. Mark and Mason fully full deserve their opportunities in the squad and there are three Tests here where they can potentially put a strong case forward for the winter,” said Root.

“Tom Westley came in and performed well against South Africa on some spicy wickets at the top of the order. It’s great to see guys putting their hands up with strong performances like that and his challenge over the next three games is to drive that forward and make some really big scores,” the English skipper added further.