Joe Root can count on the experience of several of his teammates as he embarks on his journey as England’s Test captain, stumper-batsman Jonny Bairstow has said ahead of the home series against South Africa.
Root, who replaced Alastair Cook as skipper in February, will take charge in the four-Test series starting at Lord’s on July 6.
“It will be a very proud day for Joe, and he has a lot of good and very experienced people around him to bounce ideas off,” Bairstow told reporters.
“We have players with more than 100 Test caps in the team,” he said, referring to the likes of Cook and paceman Stuart Broad who is racing against time to recover from a heel injury to play the Lord’s Test.
“Joe himself has got fifty or so and I’m one of the guys with 30-odd Tests now.”
“It’s exciting, and I am sure Joe will be putting his own stamp on the job and his own authority on it, while we as a side will be looking forward to playing under him.”
Bairstow also pressed the case of Gary Ballance’s return to the Test side after the Yorkshire skipper scored 815 County Championship runs at an average of 101.87 this season.
“Gaz’s (Ballance) form is second to none,” Bairstow said.
“He’s scored a serious amount of runs this season for Yorkshire, just as he’s scored a serious amount of runs over a long period of time.
“We don’t know what the (England) selection is going to be, but Gaz is a serious player and a class act.”

Ball injury adds to bowling concerns
Paceman Jake Ball piled on the problems for England’s bowling attack yesterday when he was ruled out of the first Test with South Africa because of a knee strain.
The 26-year-old suffered the injury playing for Nottinghamshire in the County Championship this week and joins fellow seamers Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes on the sidelines ahead of next week’s first Test against the Proteas.
Ball’s injury is also a huge blow to his county’s hopes of beating Surrey in Saturday’s One-Day Cup final at Lord’s.
“He went for a scan yesterday (Wednesday) to assess the damage and was unable to take to the field when the third day of the day-night match resumed after a rain delay,” read a Nottinghamshire statement.