Joe Root has called on England to embrace adaptability as they build towards next year's Cricket World Cup, saying a young and inexperienced squad must learn to win in different conditions if they are to challenge for the title.

Speaking in Perth on Wednesday, ahead of England's one-day international series against Australia, the 35-year-old said the three-match series would be an important test of how far the side has developed since a disappointing tri-series in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, where they won only one of four group matches.

"We're a team that wants to be more adaptable. If we are going to challenge that World Cup, we're going to have to be able to adapt our games," Root told reporters. "We're quite young and inexperienced in many ways. So the more experience we have on different surfaces, different situations in games, the more we'll learn, develop and become a more rounded team."

A milestone match in Perth

The series opener in Perth on Friday will carry extra significance for Root, who will become only the third England player to reach 200 one-day internationals. England have had more than a week in Perth to prepare, and warmed up with a 92-run win over Western Australia on a pacy surface at the WACA that should offer a guide to what awaits at Optus Stadium.

The contrast with their last assignment could hardly be greater. After playing on flat surfaces in Pakistan, where dew became a factor later in games, England will start at the fast and bouncy Optus Stadium, where only four one-day internationals have been played since the ground opened in 2018 and fast bowling has dominated. Root said the lessons of Pakistan would still count. "We've come from Pakistan. We've learned a huge amount there," he said. "Over the course of this series, we're going to have to be really clear on how we want to get the best out of these three games."

Building towards southern Africa

The 2027 World Cup will be played in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, with England's first-round games spread across three different countries. Root said that variety was exactly why the coming year mattered so much. "Our focus is all about what we do between now and that World Cup," he said. "We're not the most finished article; we're not an experienced team that's been together for three or four years. So it's really important we make the most of the opportunities that we have ahead of us, and we keep looking to learn and grow and develop."

Captain Harry Brook has also spoken of wanting England to become one of the fittest and strongest teams in the world before the tournament. The series against Australia is England's last one-day assignment of a busy winter build-up that also includes five Twenty20 internationals in Australia and a Test series in South Africa starting on 17 December.

The three one-day internationals are scheduled for 13 November in Perth, 15 November in Adelaide and 17 November in Hobart. England's squad has already been reshaped by injury, with Jacob Bethell ruled out of the white-ball tour after a knee setback and James Coles and Eddie Jack called up as replacements. For Root, approaching his 200th appearance, the message to his younger team-mates is clear: use every game, on every surface, to become the adaptable side England will need to be next October.