JOE ROOT

If you're playing against someone, you always want them playing flat out and at their best - so when you are successful you know you've produced a really good performance.

You can never really replicate the dressing-room environment and building something as a group of players.

I am slightly better at sleeping now during Test matches. I have a diary and I write things down, which helps. I write about decisions, a lot about opposition and stuff I want to say to the team so I am clear on the message I want to give.

Whenever you lose, it hurts.

You are not going to win many games if you start behind.

If you look round the world, most teams want guys who can bowl up at 90 mph because they can make things happen when it isn't doing much.

It's not about how many games we win with me as captain, it's about us being consistently getting better over a long period of time and looking to be that number one side in the world.

I try not to measure myself against other players.

We pride ourselves on taking opportunities to win when we have them.

The great thing about T20 is that it only takes one performance. One piece of individual brilliance can win a game and that can change the whole way you approach a tournament.

You have to enjoy winning and being part of a successful team, just being a young bloke. But at the same time you want to be back page and not front page news and be spoken about for your cricket and contributing to winning rather than getting it wrong on a night out.

It is motivating seeing how powerful it is when people come together and show support for a fantastic organisation like the NHS. We are very lucky to have it. We should appreciate it and not take it for granted.

I'm known as tidy, I like to keep my stuff in order.

I used to see Michael Vaughan play at the club and then to watch him captain England was inspiring.

You have to look at areas you want to get better at, both in yourself and as a team.

As a captain I think tactically I've been quite good.

All we can do as players and ambassadors of the game is try to set an example, playing in the right way and make it as entertaining as possible for people watching.

From the age of six I used to watch every England team and when I was messing around in the backyard I would pretend to be whoever was scoring runs at the time, whether they were a right or left-hander. I just wanted to be them and do that.

You look at someone like Neil Wagner - he's got a big heart, a big engine, and keeps running. And that's what you want, you want guys who, time and time again, want to be putting themselves in that position, to keep wanting to create chances and keep trying to change the game.

We've seen guys in the sport, like Steve Smith and Virat Kohli, who have actually benefited from the captaincy.

Every time you're involved in an Ashes series, as soon as it finishes at the back of your mind you start thinking about the next one.

We have to be prepared to play some attritional cricket at times.

I've always wanted to play Test cricket from a young age and that's what you dream about. But you have to make sure you can contribute regardless of the format.

You try to make sure you have respect for the opposition but still play to win and play hard cricket.

In white-ball cricket the conditions do vary, but throughout Tests it varies a lot more in a five-day game, and home advantage becomes more prevalent in Test cricket.