Shane Warne suggests a change in England's Test captaincy

Australian spin legend Shane Warne has come up with an advice for the English cricket team that could see it benefit on various counts. On one hand, Warne wants Jos Buttler to lead the side in Tests and on the other, he wants the current captain in the longer format, Joe Root, to be relieved of his burden so that he can excel as a batsman to become the world’s best.

The 49-year-old former cricketer, who currently made the headlines with several revelations in his autobiography ‘No Spin’, said while Root has it in him to dominate the game with his bat, Buttler would make a “very, very good” leader in Tests.

Root, who took over as the captain in the longer format last year, has led England in 21 Tests, winning 10, losing nine and drawing two. Recently, England thrashed India 4-1 at home under his leadership. Warne worked with Buttler while mentoring Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and believes the Lancashire wicket-keeper possesses leadership skills that suit the Tests.

Butter will make an excellent captain

“I’ve worked with Jos a bit this year and I think he’s someone who would make an excellent captain. I really enjoyed working with him, I’d like to think I helped him out a little bit. I really enjoyed his company and talking the game of cricket with him. He would be a very, very good England captain,” PA Sport quoted Warne as saying.

Warne said Root though is England’s player but expressed a concern over his conversion rates. The right-hand Yorkshire batsman has 14 hundreds in the longer format to go with 41 half-centuries.

Warne said the English captain would love more three-figure knocks so that he gets into the same bracket as India’s Virat Kohli and Australia’s Steve Smith – two of the cricketing world’s most prolific scorers at the moment.
England are now on a tour of Sri Lanka where they will play five ODIs, one T20I and three Tests. The first of the five ODIs was abandoned on Wednesday because of rain.

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