England Test skipper Joe Root
Director of England cricket Andrew Strauss is ready to give new Test skipper Joe Root the time and space he needs to grow as a leader as the Lions prepare for a long home summer against South Africa followed by the Ashes series later this year.
Root, 26, replaced Essex man Alaistair Cook as captain after England lost the away series in India last winter. It was Cook who had replaced Strauss as captain at the end of the English summer in 2012.
Earlier this year, Strauss, the 100-Test veteran, named Root as the new man to lead England in the home series against South Africa which begins in July.
"I had a lot of conversations with Joe already. We sat down with him and the selectors a couple of weeks ago. We are conscious that we don't want to dump too much on his plate too early," Strauss said yesterday during a TV interview with Sky Sports.
"We got to give him space and time to really get his head around what the demands of Test captaincy are, at a time when he is mentally focusing on his white ball game," Strauss, who guided England to two Ashes series wins, said.
"We have an incredible amount of cricket coming up - not only this summer but we play well into the winter as well. This is just an exciting time in English cricket," Strauss said.
When asked about Root's tactics, Strauss hoped the new skipper would offer something different as a leader.
"I know him well. He is an attacking player. Root needs to attack. This side will have a different feel to what we had when Alastair Cook was captain. That's no disrespect to Cook but that's just the way it happens when a new captain takes over," Strauss said.
Strauss said he won't be drawn into how Root, a veteran of 53 Tests with a batting average of 52.80, ought to captain England team in the home series against the South Africans next month.
"The style and brand (of captaincy), that's the coach and the captain's job to decide. They have to seek what's the best way. Players must play entertaining cricket so that we could go home and feel we have played fantastic cricket," the former Middlesex opener said.
"We do need to win. That's why we are all here for," Strauss told Sky experts Nasser Hussain and Ian Ward during the lunch break at the third and final one-dayer between England and South Africa at Lord's on Monday.
Strauss, who took over as Director Cricket at the start of May 2015, said England's bench-strength was promising.
"Yeah, (happy to see the standard of cricket in England). I try and watch as much as I can - either physically or through feedback cricket so I know what's happening. I try to get around every county during every summer," Strauss said.
"I think there are some exciting young cricketers coming through. We have benefited this year by having blocks of cricket where you prepare and train for white ball cricket at a time and then you move into red ball game.
"I think there is a lot of exciting cricket out there. I have seen a number of them like (Sam) Curran (of Surrey) and (Liam) Livingstone (of Lancashire). Then there is Mason Crane (of Hampshire). They need to spend some time out there and put in some compelling performances," he added.
The former England captain said centrally contracted players would be well looked after despite increasing demand from English counties to play more games.
"The players will have a huge input along with coach Trevor Bayliss and the backroom staff. We would tell the counties how many games the contracted players need to play," Strauss said.
"The important thing is we let the counties know as early as possible and this is all driven to have the best for the players. That's the simple logic behind it. At times they need to rest, at times they need to play," he said.
