Over the last three years, the ODI side that has fared the best against spin is India. Second on that list, and only by a whisker, are England

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Dambulla12-Oct-2018Over the last three years, the ODI side that has fared the best against spin is India. That is pretty much as expected. What may be a little more of a surprise – though perhaps not any more – is that England are the second-best on that list, and they are second only by a whisker. Where India average 58.27 against spin through this period, England are currently at 56.83. These two sides are miles ahead of the competition. Pakistan, at third-best, average 41.45 runs for every wicket they lose to a spinner.Joe Root knows this, and it is clear that England are not the team they were back in 2014, when during a seven-match series Sri Lanka just threw every spinner at their disposal into the XI, and expected England to fall in a bewildered, knotted heap. But despite the vast improvements to their one-day cricket, England are not merely satisfied with being ranked No. 1, said Root. They want to be the best in every type of condition, against every type of bowler, and they have the chance to build that reputation on this tour.Warne entitled to his views – Root

Joe Root has shrugged off the view, expressed by Shane Warne, that Jos Buttler should be made Test captain. Speaking while on tour to promote his new book, Warne suggested Root should give up the captaincy in order to concentrate on “his batting and nothing else”. But Root, currently with the one-day team in Sri Lanka, said he was happy in his role.
“He [Warne] is entitled to his views, he’s obviously a big fan of Jos, and so am I,” Root told TalkSport. “He’s a marvellous cricketer, got a great cricket brain and he added a huge amount to the Test team. I can’t speak for anyone else but myself, and all I’ll say is I’ve got a clear vision of how I see this team evolving over the next couple of years. I’m pretty happy with the way things of gone and my position as captain, and hopefully I can continue that good run of form that we had at the back end of the summer.
“There will always be question marks about how we can get the best out of every England player, get the best out of this team. You’re always looking for that as captain. It’s been quite challenging over the course of the summer, the conditions we’ve played in were very bowler friendly, and I’ve not had my best summer. As captain, you always want to lead the way, and I think this winter is a good opportunity for me to try and do that.”

“Our record against spin is right up there, if not the best in the world over the last couple of years,” Root said. “We’ve done a lot of hard work over the last three of four years, but we still have a lot of developing and improving to do to be No. 1 in the world for a long time, and to challenge in the World Cup. This is an opportunity to prove our improvement against spin. We’ve done it in the majority of places throughout the world, but can we do it here on spinning surfaces?”England have spoken a lot about dynasty-building so far on the tour. They are adamant that this ODI series is intrinsically important to them; they want to win it for the hell of winning it, and not just because they want to maintain momentum leading into next year’s World Cup. But of course they are thinking about the World Cup. Who isn’t? Perhaps they are also thinking that it was on a slowish track in Cardiff that their last campaign in a major tournament came apart, when they were trounced in the semi-final of the Champions Trophy by Pakistan. Here is the chance to improve on spin-friendly pitches, to minimise the risk of being tripped up on one again.There is also the recent memory of their struggles against India’s left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav, who started the T20I series against England in July by taking 5 for 24 at Old Trafford and then added 6 for 25 in the first one-dayer before England gained something of a measure of his bowling to win the ODIs 2-1.