Yorkshire hope to have England captain Joe Root available for early-season Championship matches

Yorkshire are waiting to hear from the ECB to discover whether they will have England captain Joe Root available for the early stages of their 2021 County Championship campaign.
Yorkshire's Joe Root celebrates reaching his century at Trent Bridge, Nottingham: Simon Cooper/PA WireYorkshire's Joe Root celebrates reaching his century at Trent Bridge, Nottingham: Simon Cooper/PA Wire
Yorkshire's Joe Root celebrates reaching his century at Trent Bridge, Nottingham: Simon Cooper/PA Wire

Sheffield’s Root is currently enjoying a period of rest at home after being excused from England’s white-ball commitments in India, having already led his Test team in series against Sri Lanka and India this year.

India and New Zealand’s Test sides are due to tour England later this year, with one-day series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan also to come before the end of a packed 2021, and Yorkshire coach Andrew Gale is wary that Root’s workload must be managed.

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But he still hopes to have the batsman available to wear the White Rose at some stage, with seven Championship games scheduled before the first Test of the summer against New Zealand at Lord’s on June 2.

“I’ve not heard anything on Rooty’s availability yet. We’re still waiting to hear back from England,” Gale, the former Yorkshire batsman, said.

“Knowing Rooty as I do, he will have a couple of weeks off and then be ready to get back to it. He never likes extended breaks. But his workloads do have to be managed given the amount of Test cricket that England have got coming up this year.

“I have pushed it a bit with the England management, and they’ve said they will let me know in due course. Maybe later this week or early next we’ll find out his exact availability.”

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