Joe Root searching for the right answers as desperate England seek turnaround to save series against New Zealand

Root’s side are bidding not to become the first England team to suffer 13 successive overseas Tests without a victory after a dreadful run of form exposed their weaknesses

Joe Root admitted that England need to find answers to end their dreadful form quickly (Getty)

The stakes for Joe Root and his players are high ahead of the final match of a marathon winter as they aim to avoid recording the worst away run in England’s Test history with a series-levelling victory against New Zealand.

This group of players will claim that unwanted place in the record books if they go a 13th successive overseas Test without a win here in Christchurch. That run stretches back to the final match in Bangladesh last winter, when they were bowled out in a session in Dhaka, takes in 4-0 defeats in India and Australia and the innings hammering in Auckland earlier this week.

Root played his cards close to his chest ahead of the final Test, England’s captain dead-batting every question on selection.

Will Mark Wood play? “We don’t yet.” How about Moeen Ali? “We’ll have to wait and see.” Will Root continue to bat at three? “Depends on the side we pick.”

Root’s reticence gave the impression of a captain and a team who don’t know where to turn in order to change their rotten run of form. Put simply, England are a bang average Test team right now. Away from home they are worse, with five of their last eight defeats coming by an innings.

To, statistically at least, become the worst England team in overseas Tests isn’t easy. Just think of some of the sides that stumbled their way through the 1980s and 90s.

England will set a new record for successive overseas Tests without a win if they fail to beat New Zealand (Getty)

However, the potential is there for this group of players to turn things around, perhaps just not this week against a New Zealand team who are seeking only the fourth Test series victory against England in their country’s history.

“You go into anyone’s home conditions these days it is becoming more and more difficult to win,” said Root. “What was really disappointing in Auckland was that it wasn’t dissimilar to playing in England. We are asking ourselves questions about whether we need to do things differently. We need to get things right quickly.”

Despite the lack of clarity from England over selection it seems certain Moeen will be taken out of the firing line for this series finale following his woeful Test winter. Expect Liam Livingstone, the young Lancashire all-rounder who hit 88 during England’s first tour match in Hamilton the week before last, to make his Test debut.

Craig Overton is under pressure to keep his place (Getty)

Mark Wood, too, will surely be picked, probably to replace Craig Overton, for his first Test appearance of the winter.

Somerset spinner Jack Leach appears likely to have to wait for his international chance, which should, with tours next winter to Sri Lanka and the West Indies, come in one of the seven Tests against Pakistan and India this summer.

England have been lucky their thrashing in Auckland, where they were bowled out for 58 on the first day, and the fallout has been overshadowed by the Australia ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

Root was again asked about that but is, understandably more concerned about his own team.

“What’s happened in South Africa shouldn’t really affect how we go about things,” he said.

“Cricket’s had a lot airtime hasn’t it in terms of bad press and what’s happened down there? But for me it’s about getting the result we need to finish off a long winter and take us into the summer with pride and momentum.”

Moeen Ali looks set to be taken out of the firing line after a poor winter (Getty)

But do England have enough left in the tank to do that? “Yes, there’s a natural motivation to come back from such a poor week. We did show a lot of fight and courage on that last day to get as close as we did to the draw but we know we were way off the mark in that first innings and it made very difficult as well for the bowling unit when you had such a small total.

“We’ve got an opportunity now in a completely new game, new venue, different conditions to make sure we’re far better than we have been on this trip so far.”

Root did give a partial update on Stokes’ fitness, indicating the all-rounder could bowl in this Test but is likely to be named as a specialist batsman again.

England are having to manage Ben Stokes' fitness (Getty)

“It’s always a tricky one,” said Root. “With such a big summer coming up I think it’s really important we err on the side of caution with him and make sure we don’t lose him for a long period of time, which generally come with back injuries.

“It is a careful process but it’s been managed very well and he’s actually been very mature about it. Normally he just wants to run in and bowl all day and bat for hours and hours. But he’s going about things the right way and has given himself the best chance. I don’t think we’ll see him running in for 30 overs a day but hopefully we’ll be able to get some overs out of him.”

New Zealand, meanwhile, are likely to make just one change to their team from Auckland, with spinner Ish Sodhi coming in for side-strain victim Todd Astle.