Silverwood's clarity can bring out best in Joe Root - Alastair Cook

(1:38)Sir Alastair Cook has backed Chris Silverwood to bring the same clarity to England's Test cricket that he offered to Essex during his agenda-setting spell as head coach, and believes that the team's renewed focus on the longer form of the game will help bring out the best in his own successor as Test captain, Joe Root.Speaking to ESPNcricinfo on the eve of the New Zealand Test series, Cook acknowledged that England's once-in-a-generation opportunity to win a World Cup on home soil this summer had led to an understandable prioritisation of their white-ball fortunes. You feel a long way away from everywhere, it doesn't have the hype of an Australia or India series, but they are a brilliant side, and it's a great but tough place to play cricket."Though it sits outside the Future Tours Programme, and will therefore not count towards the World Test Championship, England have recognised the New Zealand series as a vital staging post as they begin to give the old format a bit of TLC - having rather muddled through this year's Ashes, drawing 2-2 thanks to moments of inspiration from Ben Stokes in particular, rather than any coherent plan for Test success.And Cook, who stood down as captain at the end of a 4-0 defeat in India in December 2016, midway through Trevor Bayliss's four-year tenure, is sure that the arrival of Silverwood as head coach will lead to a marked improvement in Test cricket - much as he oversaw Essex's rise from the second division in 2016 to a first Championship title in 25 years the following summer."Clarity, that is one thing he'll bring," Cook said.