RUNNING ON EMPTY
Captain Courage scraps his way to a battling half-century but is close to burnout after a long, hot summer
JOE ROOT battled and scrapped his way to a score as England’s hopes of securing a drawn Ashes series spluttered into life at the Oval.
But it was thanks to Jos Buttler’s lower-order fireworks in his 64 not out that England managed to elevate their total beyond the mediocre and at least put something verging on the respectable on the board.
By the time Buttler and Jack Leach headed back to the dressing room at the close with the score on 271-8, England had landed a blow or two on the Aussies, but they are still on the ropes.
On paper, Root’s 57 is the secondhighest score of England’s innings, but far from being a sign of his usual excellence it is a sign of fatigue, of a frazzled mind and of a man who needs to stop and work out a way forward.
Perhaps it is only to be expected from a batsman who has played 24 international matches across all formats this summer and who played a full hand in England’s emotional march to World Cup glory.
And yet it cuts across the grain because Root is England’s finest batsman and those watching on at the Oval hoped to see him go toe to toe with Steve Smith in the runscoring charts.
Smith, of course, has looked suitably fresh this summer following his enforced year-long lay-off from the game for his role in the ball-tampering furore in South Africa while Root has gorged himself – even on cricket that he did not need to play.
Even so, Root has still excelled as the only Englishman to have scored more than 1,000 runs since heading to Ireland for their first game back in May. And during this innings he not only went past 7,000 Test runs in just six-and-a-half years, getting there in the shortest time span, but he also eased past Sir Len Hutton into 12th place on the all-time England run-scorers list.
That is a measure of Root’s greatness already at the age of 28. He is the most important batsman England have at their disposal in Test cricket and he must recognise that the team will reach their potential only if he is at his best more often than not.
This summer the sacrifice was unquestionably worth it, with a World Cup winners’ gong to hang around his neck, but he surely cannot spread himself this thinly in the coming years.
Root was dropped, not once, not twice, but three times in a sloppy Australian fielding display that may or may not have been connected to their celebrations following the Ashes-securing win at Old Trafford.
Despite their mistakes, they were still able to get on top thanks to their own allrounder, Mitch Marsh, who in his first Test of the series. stole the show with his steady swing bowling to take 4-35. England actually started off pretty well in reaching 103-1, with Rory Burns impressing once more on his home ground until his curious scooped pull landed safely in the hands of mid-on with the opener three runs short of his third score of 50 or more in the series.
Ben Stokes looked in the mood for the sort of score befitting a top-order batsman, but he too was left cursing his shot selection when he was caught at point from a top edge for just 20.
Root was undone by the brilliance of Pat Cummins once more as the Aussie clipped his off stump with a beauty, but others were rather more generous with their wickets.
Jonny Bairstow missed a straight full toss and Chris Woakes a straight yorker as Marsh reaped his rewards with a couple of lbws, but nothing gave him more pleasure than to see his old childhood friend Sam Curran edge to second slip.