I AM delighted for Joe Root, who in my opinion was the only choice for the ECB when deciding who should replace Alastair Cook as England’s Test captain.

Other than Cook himself, I think Rooty’s the only other settled batsman in that England line-up. There were other names mentioned such as Ben Stokes, but then it comes down to a question of workload.

I expect Joe to grow into the role over the next year or so and do a really good job.

Given I have only played under him as a captain with Yorkshire on two or three occasions, it would be harsh of me to make a judgement on what style of captain he is.

But one thing that is massive in the role is having the respect of fellow players. And he certainly has that from all those who play with him. That is half the battle.

I have obviously played under Andrew Gale a heck of a lot as captain, and there are certainly some similarities between the two, although their characters and temperament will differ slightly.

They are both very passionate and want to win at all costs.

Of course, there will be intricacies that are different from captain to captain, but I actually think once you get into professional cricket, there aren’t too many theories that are massively different.

I guess we will see how it all pans out for Rooty. But, as I say, I expect him to be a success.

I am still in New Zealand preparing for the new season back home, and things are going well.

I spoke about scoring a double hundred for the Bay of Plenty in a three-day match in my last column, and it was important I backed it up with another sizeable score, which I managed to do over the weekend with 141 in our latest Hawke Cup match.

We played another two-day game last weekend against Hamilton, and I only scored 20-odd.

I was caught down the leg-side. I felt good again, but it was a bit of a strangle.

In the first innings this weekend, against Hawkes Bay, I only got four. I got a pretty good ball if I’m honest and nicked off. A young lad for them bowled well and got five or six-for.

It was, therefore, important for me to try and get a second-innings score to put us in a winning position, or certainly a position to retain the cup, which we did, and I was delighted.

I seem to be getting into good positions, am hitting the ball nicely and scoring quite quickly at the minute, which is great.

I always try and play the situation, but being particularly positive is something I’m looking to do more at Headingley this season, where it seams around a bit more than most other places.

Sometimes you can almost get stuck in two minds there, but it worked for me towards the end of last season against Durham.

Away from home, it’s different. Last season, a lot of the grounds we played on had really good batting tracks, so I didn’t have to force the issue.

My strategy for batting at Headingley is something I’ve certainly been thinking about, but it hasn’t been at the forefront of my mind over the last couple of weeks. Scoring quickly is just how it’s happened.

It was a pretty tough track to bat on at the weekend. There were two low scores first innings, and it was a green seamer early doors.

Although it had a bit of sun on it, it was still doing quite a bit on the second and third day, and I didn’t want to die wondering.

I have approximately a month left out here, and it will be a pretty busy schedule.

We have two more two-day games and potentially two more three-dayers, although the latter only come if you retain the Hawke Cup, which we are currently defending.

One thing I missed out on at home was seeing Jack Brooks’s appearance on ITV’s Celebrity Dinner Dates last week, although I at least got to keep up with the banter between the lads on our WhatsApp group.

There was only ever going to be one choice for somebody in our squad to do something like that. He’s a good laugh, and it’s typical Brooksy.

Pennine Business Partners are skilled and experienced marketing, human resources and health and safety specialists. The focus of our business is your business – we add value to your team and deliver an excellent return on investment, by providing proactive support to help reduce the stresses and pitfalls of running a business.