England vs South Africa: Trevor Bayliss backs Joe Root to use his positive influence to lead hosts in Tests

London: It will be a start of new era in England cricket when Joe Root will lead the side against South Africa in the first Test set to be played at Lord’s on Thursday. Root was appointed captain in February after Alastair Cook, still in the team purely as an opening batsman, stood down. So this week’s match will be England’s first Test since the change of skipper. [caption id=“attachment_3281036” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of the newly-elected England Test captain Joe Root. Reuters[/caption] England will hope the captaincy job will drive the 26-year-old Yorkshireman on to even greater heights as it has done for two fellow star batsmen – Australia’s Steve Smith and India’s Virat Kohli. “The way Rooty goes about his cricket, he’s nice and positive the way he bats, I suspect the way he will captain the team will be similar,” said England’s coach Trevor Bayliss last week. South Africa ended the Test captaincy of several England skippers in Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss. A similar fate, however, is unlikely to befall Root, whatever the outcome of a four-match series. The immediate task for Root is to make England return to winning ways in Tests after eight defeats in 2016 that ended with a 0-4 series loss in India. Root’s county colleague Gary Ballance has forced his way back into the side after piling on the runs for Yorkshire even though his last six Test innings have yielded just 49 runs. Meanwhile, Keaton Jennings, who attended the same Johannesburg school as South Africa wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock, is set to open alongside Cook, who has been scoring heavily for Essex this season. With veteran new-ball duo James Anderson and Stuart Broad fit to lead an attack featuring Durham quick Mark Wood, England must decide whether to hand a debut to another paceman in Toby Roland-Jones, who would be playing on his Middlesex home ground, or give Liam Dawson a first Test on home soil following the Hampshire left-arm spinner’s promising start in Chennai in December. South Africa boast a remarkable record of having lost only one away Test series in last 10 years. They have been without AB de Villiers in Test cricket for more than 12 months and the talented batsman will miss the whole of this series as he considers his international future. South Africa too will have a new captain in Dean Elgar but regular skipper Faf du Plessis is expected back for the second Test at Nottingham following the birth of his first child. “He is a gutsy player,” South Africa coach Russell Domingo said of opening batsman Elgar. “He epitomises South African cricket to the tee,” added Domingo. The Proteas had a difficult start to this tour, losing to England in both one-day and Twenty20 series either side of a first-round exit at the Champions Trophy. Meanwhile, Domingo, who has confirmed he will re-apply for his job as required by South Africa officials, had to return home briefly after his mother was involved in a traffic accident. But despite the absence of injured fast bowler Dale Steyn, South Africa – 2-0 winners in England five years ago – boast an impressive pace attack. Morne Morkel is renowned for how well he bowls to left-handers (England will have several in their top order) and Vernon Philander is a proven performer in English conditions while Kagiso Rababa is a rising star. “He’s a phenomenal talent,” said Philander of Rabada, who already took 71 wickets in just 17 Tests. South Africa are set to give a debut to Heino Kuhn, the latest opener trying to fill the void left by retired former captain Graeme Smith. Top-order batting is set to be a key area, with Hashim Amla – who made South Africa’s record Test score of 311 not out at The Oval in 2012 – a central figure. Now there are fears the 34-year-old may not be the player he was, with South Africa batting great Barry Richards saying last week: “One of the key parts of the series is Hashim Amla versus the fast bowlers and Hashim Amla versus himself.”