Preparing for Australia "carries well everywhere in the world", says Joe Root

In a new interview with The Telegraph, England's Test captain insists his team has a blueprint in place to regain the Ashes urn in the 2021-22 winter

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Joe Root has backed England to regain the Ashes during next year's Test series if they can play to a blueprint designed for Australian conditions.

In an interview with The Telegraph, England's Test captain reiterated calls for the flatter-seam Kookaburra ball to be trialled in the County Championship as part of a range of suggestions with a particular focus on encouraging the development of batsmen in the red-ball game for trips to Australia.

Speaking after completing a 3-1 win in South Africa to give coach Chris Silverwood his first Test series victory since being appointed to replace Trevor Bayliss in the top job in October, Root identifies suitability to home conditions as key to Australia's continued success in the format.

"The thing about playing well there is because the wickets are flatter, the ball does not do as much, so performing well in Australia carries well everywhere in the world," Root remarked.

"In Australian conditions it is so difficult to take 20 wickets, batters get used to scoring big hundreds, teams are used to scoreboard pressure when batting second and staring at 500-run leads, so over a period of time they have got used to playing that Test-style of cricket.

"If we can shape a model of how we want to play in Australia – big first-innings scores and not always picking our best players but picking the best players for certain positions, I think that is a big part of [winning the series].

"We have a clear plan of how we want to go about playing, which is different to before. We felt for a while it could get a bit muddled, which was down to the interpretation by individual players rather than a really clear method that everyone could fall into line with."

While England will have to wait until November 2021 before travelling to Australia for the next Ashes clash, Root's side is due to open its tour of Sri Lanka by starting a three-day warm-up fixture in Katunayake next weekend.

World Test Championship ties in Galle and Colombo will follow later in March before welcoming the West Indies and Pakistan for three Tests apiece as part of the home summer programme.