"As long as we are scoring enough runs to win games of cricket, that is the important thing." © Getty

Ahead of the first Test against West Indies in Barbados, England captain Joe Root says he is not concerned at his team's recent top order batting struggles.

England may have won the eight of their last nine Test matches but the top three batting positions are still to be nailed down. The tourists' recent success has been largely built on a strong and deep middle and lower order which has often got them out of trouble, turning difficult positions into winning ones. It has been vital in a number of the victories in their current run, such as when Sam Curran's 63 against India at Edgbaston last summer coaxed out an extra 94 runs for the last four wickets in England's second innings. They went on to win the game by just 31 runs.

England's top order woe is not a new problem - it has been an issue since the retirements of Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott many moons ago - and it would be a welcome turn of events should Rory Burns, Keaton Jennings and Jonny Bairstow put in some commanding performances in the upcoming three Test series, beginning on Wednesday (January 23) at Kensington Oval. It would, arguably, be the final piece in England's puzzle.

Jennings and Bairstow scored hundreds in the whitewash over Sri Lanka earlier in the winter but neither is certain to remain in their current roles, with Jennings' place in the side still under threat and Baristow not particularly happy to be batting at number three without the wicket-keeping gloves. Burns, one of the county game's most prolific run scorers, made a solid half-century in one of the warm-up matches last week as well as one fifty-plus score in Sri Lanka but is in need of big innings to really announce himself on the international stage.

Given West Indies' strength is their bowling attack, and that the Dukes ball being used for the series is likely to offer more prolonged assistance to the bowlers that might have been otherwise expected, it will fall on these three players to lay the foundation for England's strong middle order. If they can't, the likes of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Curran may find themselves having to rescue England from early wickets, as they did at times in Sri Lanka and against India last summer.

"We are playing to our strengths," Root told BBC Sport. "We have to manage expectations and understand that it might not be the top four who score the bulk of the runs. We have a very strong middle order and the wickets we have played on have generally been difficult at the start, putting pressure on the top order. As long as we are scoring enough runs to win games of cricket, that is the important thing."

Naturally, Root wants all his batsmen to contribute but he is happy to rely on England's batting depth which could see Curran batting as low as number nine. "Maybe there will be more workload at the back end of an innings," Root said. "That suits the way we set up at the moment - it's important that the guys keep remembering that. Hopefully it will turn out that we score runs everywhere."

After a commanding first half of the winter, a victory in the Caribbean would make it a terrific six months work. With England ranked five places above West Indies in the world rankings, they are favourites to pick up their first series win in the region for 50 years yet there are potential pitfalls ahead. West Indies will be full of motivation for a series against England, their bowling attack is not to be underestimated and the tourists will need to avoid the danger of looking ahead to a huge home summer, involving the World Cup and Ashes.

"You can't ignore it - it's an exciting summer, with a huge amount of exciting cricket to come," said Root. "It is something that everyone is really looking forward to. But a strong message in the dressing room is that our full focus is on this tour, to make sure we are doing everything we can to win this series. The way we played in Sri Lanka, if we can transfer a lot of that into this series we'll be really pleased by the end of it."