'You don’t always get what you want' – Root on Bairstow as specialist batsman

Bairstow had previously expressed his strong desire to retain wicketkeeping responsibilities, but after assessment Root believes it was a fairly straight-forward decision.

"It was a medical call. He didn’t seem fit to be able to keep in a Test for five days, and that was the call that was made," Root said in his pre-match press conference. "He will be disappointed but ultimately we’ve got to do the best thing for this team to win this game, and we believe Jos is the right man to do it this time around.

"He loves doing the job. He’s done extremely well over the last couple of years, but that’s part of international sport. You don’t always get what you want. And hopefully he uses it in the right way to drive his game forward."

Buttler has been England's limited-overs wicket-keeper for some time now, and Root hopes that competition between him and Bairstow will help them both reach higher standards.

"There are no guarantees in international sport,” Root said. "It (Bairstow’s fracture) has opened the door for someone else. We’ve seen it in the white-ball stuff at the top of the order guys keep coming in and making it very difficult for someone else to make their way back in if they’ve got injuries. Hopefully this is a great chance for these two guys to keep pushing each other to improve and take their games to the next level.

"Jos has an opportunity for this game and potentially the rest of the series – we’ll have to wait and see – and I think that’s a good thing in terms of development for this group."

England have made two changes to personnel for the fourth Test, with Sam Curran coming in for Lord's centurion Chris Woakes, who has a thigh problem, and Worcestershire's recent double-centurion Moeen Ali replacing 20-year old batsman Ollie Pope.

"Moeen will bat at seven because that is where we feel we get the best out of him," added Root. "The way that Jos [Buttler] and Ben [Stokes] batted at Trent Bridge in the second innings at five and six, they should be given the opportunity to do that again. It was a fine partnership and a great example for the guys of how to play Test cricket in difficult circumstances."