After a disastrous Ashes tour, England are now in the Caribbean islands, where they will take on the West Indies in a three-Test series. A lot has changed in the English setup since they left the Australian shores, with their most experienced pacers – James Anderson and Stuart Broad – left out of the squad. Another major structural change in England’s setup is Joe Root moving up the order to number three.
Root has batted at number four in more than 50% of his Tests, a position where he has scored more than half of his Test career runs. Before moving into the vital number four position, Root started out batting slightly lower down the order. His exceptional returns at number five – 1830 runs in 20 matches at 67.77 – prompted the England management to move him up the order.
In 62 Tests at his favored number four position, Root has amassed 5179 runs at 51.27, including 14 centuries. The idea of having the team’s best batter bat at number three, a position that can dictate the course of the innings, prompted the management to move Root up the order in the past. But, his returns at number three are less impressive than his record in the middle-order. In 53 innings, he has scored just 1933 runs at an average of 38.66 when batting one-down.
After juggling through multiple positions, where he was also tried out as an opener, Root settled in at the number four position. Despite usually coming in to bat inside the first 15-20 overs even while batting at four, Root isn’t a natural number three. Root scored fifty every 3.3 innings when batting at number three, whereas he has scored a half-century every 2.6 and 2.2 innings at number four and five, respectively.
Not only his batting suffered at number three, but the move also wasn’t optimal for England as a team, with their win% taking a considerable hit when Root batted at three. England won 36.67% of the matches when Root batted at three, as opposed to winning 43.35% of the Tests when he batted at four.
The obvious difference between his returns at number three and four makes England’s move to push Root up the order look like a desperate one rather than a tactical one. England have tried several options at number three and in the opening combination, with various players even interchanging their roles. Despite that, the returns have been extremely disappointing.
Since 2020, England have tried 11 players at the top of the order (1-3), which is the joint-most, along with Zimbabwe and West Indies. The batting average of England’s top three in this period is 27.40 – only Afghanistan (25.33) and West Indies (23.52) have fared worse. England’s top-order has also registered most ducks (27) – Pakistan with 12 are next in the list.
With England exploring options for the opener’s role and in the middle-order, Root batting at three can provide an opportunity for a new batter to settle in the middle-order and shield himself from the initial attack. It will also give the new number four – Dan Lawrence is the front-runner – an opportunity and a cushion to bat with Root and Ben Stokes, who will be batting at number five. For a youngster trying to make his mark and establish himself in the team, there won’t be a better opportunity and batting position than to be sandwiched between England’s two best batters.
Along with leading the team and pulling them out of a rough patch, Joe Root will have an additional responsibility on his shoulders of batting in a position where he hasn’t been at his best, when he strides out as England’s under-pressure captain on 8th March 2022 in the first Test against the West Indies.