Joe Root opens up on Shane Warne criticism, his form and England new-boy Olly Stone

England Test skipper Joe Root has opened up on criticism from Shane Warne, the impact Olly Stone has made in Sri Lanka and his own personal form.

Last week, Australia legend Warne suggested Root should relinquish the captaincy to focus on his batting.

Root replaced Alastair Cook as England skipper at the start of 2017 but Warne said the role may be better suited to Jos Buttler.

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Maybe England could think about their best player having the shackles off, not having the responsibility of captaincy, and give it to someone like Jos Buttler, the legendary spinner said.

If he (Root) totally 100 per cent concentrates on his cricket, his batting and nothing else, then maybe we might see Joe Root become the best batsman in the world. Hes got the talent to do it.

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But writing in a column for Sky Sports, Root says England made great strides under his leadership in the summer as they defeated India, the top-ranked team in the world.

Joe Root on Shane Warne's comments

I dont agree with his but he is entitled to his opinions. He is a huge fan of Jos Buttler, as am I, he has spent a lot of time with him in Rajasthan.

Not everyone is going to say what you want to hear all the time. I am very clear about how I want to take this Test team forward, I think we made huge strides over the summer and playing in Sri Lanka in November is another opportunity to keep developing and growing as a team.

It is one of those things that you can do nothing about. It is up to people to make their own minds up about. A lot of the time in sport people say things and it is up to the public to make their own mind up about it.

I am very comfortable in my position, I know where I want to take this team and I fully feel I am the right man to do that.

England appear to have a new fast bowling star on their hands in Warwickshires Olly Stone.

Called up to the ODI squad for the ongoing series in Sri Lanka, Stone claimed figures of 1-23 from six overs in the second match in Dambulla.

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Having battled back from a serious injury last year, Stone wants to stay in the team ahead of next summers World Cup.

Root, 27, says it was a brilliant start to Stones international career and has urged the Warwickshire quick to continue improving.

Root on England novice Olly Stone

I was very impressed with Olly Stone, for being his first game you would never have thought that watching him bowl.

He was in control of what he was trying to do, bowled some brilliant lengths at good pace and caused a lot of problems.

He built pressure and that partnership between him and Woakesy (Chris Woakes), Woaksey took the majority of the wickets but between them they bowled exceptionally well with the new ball and got us well ahead of the game.

It was a brilliant start to his career and hopefully he can take a huge amount of confidence from that.

As most guys do nowadays, he has fitted in very quickly with our team. He is a quiet guy, has a good sense of humour and gets on with everyone.

It is really pleasing to see him come in and put in a really strong performance first time around.

Englands Test captain also discussed his own form.

Roots conversion rate has been the subject of much scrutiny over the past two years and he went 27 innings without a Test century before scoring a ton in the series-finale against India at the Oval.

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He has looked in fine touch in Sri Lanka, scoring 90 not out in a warm-up match but making a combined 96 runs in the first two ODIs.

Root discusses his form with the bat

I feel in a pretty good place with my batting and feel as though I have a good understanding of my role and how I am going to go about scoring my runs and read the situation.

I figure things out in the middle and have done so for a while now.

It is amazing how quickly things turn around. If you look at the start of the summer, I had a tough series against Australia and very quickly in the space of four games things have changed drastically.

For me it is a reminder of how important it is to never get complacent and never get too down.

And to stay quite real with everything and understand that every time you go out on to the field it is an opportunity to try and build a score or chase one down and do everything you can to help your side win.

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