Root is fired up to right past wrongs Down Under

JOE GALVANISES HIS TROOPS

JOE ROOT’S Test record in Australia should act as a fairly significant brake on any enthusiam leading up to next Wednesday’s Ashes opener at the Gabba.

Nine attempts spread over two visits – five as England captain – and nothing but mental scarring and a bit part in a bore draw at Melbourne to show for his efforts. Despite such bruising history and a tour where preparations have been hampered by Covid, bad weather and a squad separated by quarantine restrictions until this week, he believes this time could be different.

Root insists England have a “brilliant chance” to achieve something special.

“I know exactly what it is like to be on the wrong side of a series here,” he said. “For an England player to play in Australia and win is the dream. “We’ve prepared as well as we can and if we can control our emotions, play to our skill levels, if we can be smart in certain situations and do things differently to how we’ve done them previously, I believe we have a brilliant chance to do something special here.” England’s T20 World Cup players and senior coaching staff, including Chris Silverwood, below, have been kept apart until now due to Covid quarantine.

Root admitted such a compressed preparation means they need to gain the maximum benefit from the final four-day warm-up that started in Brisbane last night.

He said: “There have been a lot of other distractions for us in terms of the weather and our preparation, so it is important we get this next phase leading into the game absolutely right.”

Root and Silverwood want Test-match intensity in the warm-up.

“There’s a lot of people who will want to prove things, and will want to show that they deserve an opportunity for that first Test,” said Root.

“This is a good chance for us to maybe get ahead of Australia in terms of preparation and gametime. It would be silly for us to just cosy our way through the four days.”

Australia’s World T20 winners have been quarantined while Pat Cummins has replaced Tim Paine as captain following his resignation.

Root said: “It doesn’t change how we are going to prepare.

“More than anything else, I don’t want us as a team to get sidetracked by what is happening in their camp.”