Joe Root should be England's next ODI captain, says Nick Knight

Joe Root should be England’s one-day captain going forward, argues Nick Knight, as he previews the new-look team’s Dublin date with Ireland…

England have decided to go with plenty of young guns for their one-day international with Ireland – but I don’t yet think they have decided who their permanent one-day captain will be.

If they were certain Eoin Morgan was that man, I believe he would be playing in Dublin, so the fact he isn’t presents James Taylor with an opportunity to state his case for the role.

Root is an automatic pick in the team and has an excellent one-day record, a superb cricket brain, and the respect of the team.

Taylor is without doubt a fantastic cricketer with a good deal of captaincy experience at domestic level as well as with the England Lions but, looking forward to the series with New Zealand and Australia, I would like to see Joe Root become England’s one-day skipper.

The Yorkshireman is an automatic pick in the team and has an excellent one-day record, a superb cricket brain, and the respect of the team.

I understand the argument of not wanting to saddle one of your best and most reliable players, though I just think the time is right to move in a different direction with Root at the helm.

Variation

In terms of Friday’s game, I am really looking forward to seeing the England bowling attack.

There were a few failings – more than a few – for England at the World Cup but one of them was that the bowlers were very predictable and one-paced.

Yet with the extra speed of Mark Wood – someone who presumably picked Jimmy Anderson’s brain on the art of fast bowling during the recent Test tour of the West Indies – the left-arm option of David Willey and the spin of Adil Rashid and Zafar Ansari, there is a lot more variation.

England should now have the ability to pick up wickets in the middle of the innings, not just at the start and end when batsmen are taking bigger risks and hunting for regular boundaries.

Live One-Day International Cricket

We should also be excited by the batting as Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Sam Billings and James Vince are fantastic ball strikers who will not die wondering, so the key is for them to be stuck with.

The way they play means that, from time to time, they will encounter failure but they need to be given the backing from management for long enough, something Hales was not afforded when he came into the side last summer.

A particularly English thing to do is to look at what players aren’t good at when you should be looking at what players are good at and encouraging them not to go into their shells.

I want to see these new and extremely talented guys being expressive, doing the things that have got them selected in the first place and just having fun.

So when England play Ireland I want to see these new and extremely talented guys being expressive, doing the things that have got them selected in the first place and just having fun.

The result isn’t completely irrelevant, but it’s far more important for pundits and fans alike to sit back at the end of the game, whatever the outcome, and say: ‘You know what, we quite like watching these young kids play, it’s exciting and we want more of it’.

Standout

Ireland’s new coach, John Bracewell, will have a watching brief at Malahide before officially taking over after the England game – and he certainly has some tough shoes to fill.

Phil Simmons did a tremendous job over a long period of time with Ireland and we need only look at how together West Indies were while drawing with England to see the effect he has had on his new charges.

That said, John has done some stellar stuff of his own, not just with New Zealand but also helping establish Gloucestershire as the standout team in one-day cricket in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

I don’t suspect he will change too much at this stage, for one because he doesn’t have the players at his disposal to do that but also because Ireland are a pretty successful and consistent side anyway.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

The major thing for the team’s development now is to get more one-day internationals against the top sides; it must be incredibly frustrating for them to go to a World Cup, win three games and play in the manner that they did, and then just be handed the odd clash here and there.

I would like to see teams touring England come and play three-game series against Ireland, as well as England play more matches against them – Ireland have earned that right now.

Watch Ireland versus England, from 10.30am, Friday, Sky Sports 2.