His 'choice' of county - Leicestershire, when he was born in .... Leicester. I am no great fan of this constantly moving around from one county to the next but there are favoured counties and Kent is one of them. I wish it wasn't so, players are picked (I won't name them because it wasn't their choice) probably too early, maybe they put in a decent performance or two, then they start to fail in important matches, the bad balls start to outnumber the good, they drop the important catch, they just get a nick to a ball they should have left (or leave one that hits the stumps), spectators and the media get on to them and they return to the county with confidence shattered. About half a century ago we selected someone who looked like John Major's brother, David Steele, been round the county circuit for years; He was a fighter, ground out scores against both Lillee'n Thomson and the Windies. Now, if Root fails, no-one can see where the runs are going to come from. Steele did not fail, didn't get the big scores but stabilised the innings, the man at the other end didn't have to worry about him. Played just 8 tests, with a batting average of over 42!
Now if you play for the likes of Derbyshire, Glamorgan, Northamptonshire you don't stand a chance of representing your country, it is now probably too late to reverse this. However it may be worth looking at the unfashionable counties, do they have batsmen (in particular) who can grind out scores, stick around when the ball is swinging or moving off the seam, doesn't get frustrated when they are scoring slowly (they are supposed to be 5 day tests after all). Instead we have players whose first ball - play yourself in, second ball - expansive straight drive (which is nicked to first slip). bash the bat in frustration on the way up the pavilion steps. We all knew it was coming, how come they didn't?(Slight exaggeration.)