A new coach and a new approach but the same old story for England.

Their innings loss to New Zealand in Mount Maunganui featured a catastrophic batting collapse and an inability to adapt to foreign conditions, two issues that have defined them over the past couple of years.

This is not to say that there were no positives for England in Tauranga. Joe Denly now looks at home in this line-up and Sum Curran impressed again.

But another heavy away loss is clearly cause for concern.

None will be more concerned than captain Joe Root, no matter how much he tries to convince us otherwise.

Speaking after his eighth defeat in 14 away Test matches as skipper - fourth by an innings - Root dismissed claims that he is under pressure and labelled his form an “easy” target for the press.

In that regard, he is right – it is easy to focus on the form of a captain when his team is losing.

That, however, doesn’t mean it’s the wrong thing to do.

Root’s only series win away from home as captain came last year against one of the worst Sri Lanka sides in recent memory, while England have won none of their eight Tests in Australia and New Zealand under his watch.

His batting average was 52.8 when he took over, but is 39.7 as skipper.

Meanwhile, the other members of the ‘Big Four’ – Steve Smith, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson – have seen their personal performance skyrocket since taking their respective armbands.

Root’s scores of two and 11 in Tauranga combined for his worst batting performance yet as captain, while it’s best not to mention the pathetic fashion of both dismissals.

In short, Root cannot hope to avoid such questions as long as his poor form continues, and the press would not be doing their jobs properly if they did not ask them.

And, unfortunately for Root, the longer these questions continue to be asked, the more danger he comes under.

England simply cannot progress as a team if their captain is coming under fire every single series.

Root remains England’s best batsman.

If the captaincy continues to affect that, then he cannot deflect these questions for much longer.

One thing working in Root’s favour at the moment is a lack of viable alternatives to take up the captaincy.

The recent change of coaching staff is another factor, with Chris Silverwood unlikely to want to change his captain so early in his tenure.

These things, however, can only shield Root for so long.

England now have one more Test in New Zealand before a four-match series in South Africa over the turn of the year and a two-match series in Sri Lanka in March.

Should Root continue to fall short at the crease then Silverwood will have a big decision to make before the home summer starts against the West Indies in June.

Visit Betway's cricket betting page.