England’s Joe Root is yet to reach his 100 Ashes points in Australia, but local media were quick to remind him of that when he arrived in Australia for this winter series.
Ahead of the first Test in Perth from Friday, Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain looks at why Root is in the perfect position to break that duck, why he hasn’t had a century in Australia before and what’s really fueling the batsmen ahead of their fourth Ashes tour…
Root seems to be in a very good place at the moment and is clearly enjoying playing with and for his great mate Ben Stokes. His game is in very good shape and has been for a very long time.
He has never had a hard time against the run and has taken his consistency to a new level, especially in recent years.
Root’s highest score in a Test in Australia is the 89 he scored in Brisbane during the 2021/22 series
Root reminds me of a time when people used to talk about not converting the 70s and 80s, but those days are gone. He converts scores into hundreds, big hundreds.
He does it all with a smile and is so much fun to watch. He’s very pleasing to the eye and a player with great touch. And most of all, he’s a great ambassador for this game.
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Root paid a moving tribute to the late Graham Thorpe after scoring his 39th Test ton, donning a headband and pointing towards the sky as he paid tribute to his mentor and great British compatriot.
One example of this was when he paid tribute to Graham Thorpe by wearing a headband after scoring a hundred in the Thorpe Memorial Test against India at The Oval last summer.
Why has Root not yet scored a hundred in Australia?
Root has been a machine throughout his career, but he is yet to score an Ashes hundred in Australia, so the upcoming series is on everyone’s radar, but why is that?
Firstly, he is playing against a team that has had a great bowling attack. The quartet of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Ryan will be in with their best squad, with Scott Boland solidly backing them up.
And the shot that Root plays in England and around the world is a shot that falls to third man with soft hands, much like New Zealand’s Kane Williamson.
That allows him to get a lot of runs, but because of the extra bounce in Australia, even if he played slow or with soft hands, the ball was carried, so he made a little bit of a mistake. He was a bit vulnerable in the fourth and fifth stump passages.
Across Tests in Australia and England, Root has been dismissed by Cummins 11 times, and Cummins will miss at least the first match of this series due to injury.
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Australian cricket journalist Adam Collins talks about England’s chances of winning the first Ashes Test with home seamers Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins ruled out
Seamer speed guns can only say one thing, they can be rushed and look even faster because of their skill, bowling length and slow movement.
Cummins is fast as hell, but he bowls the right length to Root, keeps him out of the game and brings both edges into the play. If you look at the dismissals, you’ll see not only nicked offs, but also deliveries cut back to bowl him or pound him down.
Root has had the special responsibility of being captain in the last two Australian tournaments, especially in the 2021-22 season, where he has had to adapt a lot due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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England assistant coach Marcus Trescothick backed Root’s performance in Australia, saying his game had progressed to the “next level”.
I spoke to England boss Rob Key and he said he was amazed at everything Joe had to do on the road with all his problems on and off the field.
Then, when the results start to go against you and the gears start to slip away, it weighs on you as a player, just like stepping up to bat with 20 wins and 2 losses. I hope he doesn’t do that in this series.
Mr Root said he was ‘not bothered at all’ about the newspaper headlines.
When Root landed in Australia during this hoarfrost, there was a headline in a Western Australian newspaper that read him as “Average Joe,” but he doesn’t care at all. He just wants to win against Ash for his fellow Stokes, he just wants to win for this system. That will be his only driving force.
England’s victory is linked to the elusive away games that people in Ashton talk about.
If the team is to win back The Ashes, you’d think Root would need a great series like Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne or Steve Smith. But a hundred things are overrated and overrated.
He wants to get it and if he can get it in Perth in the first Test it would put an end to all the chatter, but even if he doesn’t it won’t be the end of the world for him.
He just wants to score every time he steps up to bat. That’s what made him the machine he is today. He will have the same mindset this time around and understand that it is important to make sure he scores.
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Speaking to Sky Sports recently, Root said he is in a “different place” ahead of this winter’s Ashes series.
So, will Joe be able to get that 100?
perhaps. probably. But I know which I would prefer if he scored 300 points and England lost the Ashes, or if he scored a load of 90 points and England won the Ashes.
The story for the next few weeks is that England will win more Test matches than Australia, and Root’s 100 wins will obviously help that. So let’s hope he succeeds and England win.
Ashes Series in Australia 2025-26
always UK and Ireland
First Test: Friday 21st November – Tuesday 25th November (2.30am) – Optus Stadium, Perth Second Test (day/night): Thursday 4th December – Monday 8th December (4.30am) – The Gabba, Brisbane Third Test: Wednesday 17th December – Sunday 21st December (12am) – Adelaide Oval Fourth Test: Thursday 25th December – Monday 29th December (11.30pm) – Melbourne Cricket Ground Fifth Test: Sunday 4th January – Thursday 8th January (11.30pm) – Sydney Cricket Ground
