Joe Root urges Mark Stoneman to seal the opening slot

30-year old Mark Stoneman will be the centre of attraction when he walks out to bat with the former England captain Alastair Cook. The Durham man will be Cook’s 12th opening partner. England captain Joe Root has challenged Stoneman to seal the opening slot ahead of the Ashes.  Stoneman will replace Keaton Jennings, who failed to put up vital scores with the bat.

Root challenges Stoneman to cement the top spot

The captain admits that England have been struggling to find an answer to the openings woes, and he believes that Stoneman can be the answer. He feels it is unfortunate to see no one cementing the opening slot, even though each of the choices were worthy of a pick.  He also stressed on the point of scoring big runs and said that many a time the openers got a good start but could not capitalise on it.

‘It’s a strange one,’ he said as per the quotes on Daily Mail. ‘You look at the talent and the guys who have played and you think they have every chance of being able to do it, but unfortunately, it’s not been the case. ‘A lot of great openers’ strengths is when they do get in they make big, big scores. Unfortunately, on a few occasions, guys haven’t quite managed to do that. It’s an opportunity for Mark to come in and do just that.’

Mason Crane gets a call-up

Stoneman is one of the new faces in the squad and apart from him, 20-year old leg-spinner Mason Crane gets a berth in the national team. Many believe that Crane has been selected to get a feel of the international set up, and he won’t feature in the games. But Root doesn’t agree to that.

‘He’s in the squad. We wanted to give him an opportunity to see what he can do for the team and see how he fared in Test cricket. It’s a great opportunity to get him involved and for him to show everyone in the squad what’s he’s capable of doing,’ concluded the England skipper.