Have England found the 'next Joe Root'?

As the opening round of County Championship action draws near, the eyes of many Worcestershire fans will be trained keenly on young batting talent Joe Clarke, who has been likened to England captain Joe Root.

Clarke is only 21 but already has 47 first-class matches to his name, including England Lions honours, while in last month's North-South series in the Caribbean, he was in imperious touch for the North, making scores of 46, 71 and 112 to also put him on the radar of national selectors.

The right-hander has been compared to Root by Kevin Sharp, who mentored Root in his formative years at Yorkshire and is these days head coach at Worcestershire.

"Yes, he could be the new Joe Root," Sharp told ESPN. "He reminds me a lot of Joe Root's credentials.

"I met Joe Root as a 12-year-old and he had something special straight away. I knew that from day one. The way he went about his tasks, the way he talked about the game and the way he went about planning: he was always planning for the next level.

"Joe Clarke's the same. He's a fine young player. He wants to play all types of cricket for England. He's very self-driven."

Clarke's ascension could continue this summer given the Test side's current batting frailties, and the middle-order batsman will have the early weeks of the county season to further build his case.

Last week, following England's 1-0 series defeat in New Zealand, head coach Trevor Bayliss appealed to the country's first-class batsmen to put together performances that make them stand out from the pack.

"Those early matches back home, I think, will mean a lot," Bayliss said of the initial rounds of the County Championship, which begin this Friday, April 13.

"There are chances available (for selection) – if you're scoring a lot of runs and taking a lot of wickets, you're going to be very close.

"(But) I don't think there's anyone at home putting their hand up at the moment and saying come and pick me.

"The same questions are still there but I'm not sure there are better players out of the team at the moment.

"So who do we replace them with?

"There are some young players on the cusp but I guess this is a call-out to the guys in county cricket – the first few matches of the season are very important."

Sharp believes Clarke could capably fill a spot in the middle-order.

"It wouldn't surprise me if he was picked," Sharp added. "He would do well. He believes in himself, he's hungry and he concentrates well. It absolutely wouldn't be a problem if he got picked. He wouldn't let himself or anybody down."