England’s Test captain, Joe Root, will bat at No 3 in the Ashes series after personally offering to move up the order to solve the team’s growing batting crisis.

Root approached the England management with the offer after the win against Ireland last week when they were bowled out in a session on day one for just 85.

Root prefers to bat at four and has resisted attempts to persuade him to move permanently up the order in the past from his favourite position.

But he has realised an inexperienced top three of Rory Burns, Jason Roy and Joe Denly, who boast just 11 Test caps between them, could be easy pickings for Australia’s vaunted pace attack when the first Test starts at Edgbaston on Thursday.

Denly batted at three against Ireland but will swap with Root and move to four with Roy and Burns continuing to open. England recognise that in the long term Roy is likely to move into the middle order but having picked him as an opener against Ireland, believe he deserves to be given a run in that position.