Joe Root has 13453 runs in Test cricket with 39 hundreds but he is yet to score a ton in Australia. England tour Australia in November this year for the Ashes series, and can Root turn around his fortunes in that sun-baked country? Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has identified the area where Australia have traditionally attacked Root.
“He’s got out a lot in Australia with that trademark back-foot punch he plays so well here [in England] with slightly less bounce. The Aussies have tried to push him back in the crease and get him to force something square of the wicket on the off side that’s potentially not there. But he’s got eighties and nineties, so it’s not like he can’t play there. He’s got such a well-rounded game,” Ponting told The Times.
Root has spoken about his record in Australia in the past, and put it down to being over eager to get a hundred, and also handling batting along with pressures of captaincy.
“The last couple of times I’ve been out there, particularly when I was captain, I probably wanted it a bit too much. Ben feels the same. We’ve played a lot out there and not had a lot to show for it. But the prospect of doing so much better this time is exciting,” Root had told Guardian newspaper last year.
A few days earlier, another Australian former player had highlighted another area where Australia have targeted Root. Former opener David Warner had talked about Root’s bat-lift that has caused him lbw issues in Australia.
“I think he will have nightmares before he gets over there about Josh Hazlewood, a bit like me and Broady [Stuart Broad],” Warner told The Times. “That’s where we always targeted him [trying to get him out leg-before]. The way that he brings down his bat playing on Australian wickets, it can bring him undone and I’ve seen it in the past. Joe is a hell of a cricket player, look at the runs he has scored, the second-leading runscorer in the world. But I’m sure he’d like to score a hundred in Australia. It’s one that has eluded him. I think that will be on his mind.”
Root has played 27 innings in Australia, averaging 35.68 and with a highest score of 89. Last year, the former Australian player and coach Darren Lehmann too had pegged Root below Steve Smith and Virat Kohli for that inability to score a hundred in Australia.
Story continues below this ad
“Nope, he is a rung below for that reason,” said Lehmann on ABC Sport, when asked if Root was in the same category. “They’ve made runs all over the world in difficult conditions against different oppositions, and that’s the only thing stopping Joe Root. I think he’s a great player, but is he an all-time great?“I don’t have him in that realm. I think you’ve got to make hundreds all around the world. Smith does, Williamson has, Kohli has, [Rohit] Sharma has – I mean they’re world-class players.”
Ponting sees Joe Root’s lack of a Test century from three tours to Australia as an anomaly. “What he’s done the past five years is extraordinary. Look at the numbers: he’s got 13,500 runs. I rank players on how long they can stay at the top of their powers. You can be a great player for 30 to 40 games but can you do it for 150 games? Joe probably wasn’t a great player for his first 100 games — he had 17 hundreds in 97 Tests — but he’s turned into a great player. He has got 21 hundreds in his past 60 games.
“Steve Smith found ways to minimise risks and that’s what Joe has done. The best players are the best problem-solvers. They can do it before a series, they can do it halfway through an innings. They work out how to combat ways that certain players are going to try to get them out.”
