Root hopes to placate local fans in 3rd ODI

England batsman keen to evade ‘embarrassing’ encounters.

LONDON: Joe Root said that England’s much-vaunted attempt to rebuild their standing with their fans, let alone the rest of the cricket world, will come to nothing if they suffer yet more humiliation during the ongoing one-day series with Sri Lanka.

England, in classic early season English conditions, were bowled out for just 99 as Sri Lanka cruised to a huge 157-run victory in the second ODI at north-east county Durham’s Chester-le-Street headquarters on Sunday to level the five-match series at 1-1 after the hosts won in a rain-affected opener at The Oval.



The series continues at Manchester’s Old Trafford on Wednesday and with crowds appearing to be down after England’s 5-0 Ashes series loss in Australia, Root – bowled for a third-ball duck by Lasith Malinga at the weekend – knows a repeat of the Durham debacle would not go down well with the paying public.

“We don’t want fans turning up for games and seeing a performance like that,” said the Yorkshire batsman after Sunday’s drubbing. “It’s quite embarrassing.

“The one way to get people to come and watch you is to win games of cricket, and we have to make sure we can do that consistently, earn the right for people to want to come and watch us.”

But Root insisted England, who will hope to welcome back captain and opener Alastair Cook at Old Trafford after he missed Sunday’s match with a groin strain, had not lost faith in their collective ability to win the series.

“We played some really good cricket at The Oval, which was not even a week ago now,” said Root .

“If we do play at the top of our game we’re going to beat sides like Sri Lanka.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2014.

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