Root vow to make chuckling Smith pay

PAUL NEWMAN Cricket Correspondent reports from Adelaide ENGLAND will use the image of Australia captain Steve Smith laughing at them after their thumping defeat in Brisbane as motivation to hit back here tomorrow in a second Test they cannot afford to lose. The sight of Smith convulsing with giggles as team-mate Cameron Bancroft told a packed press conference how Jonny Bairstow ‘headbutted’ him has left England seething. ‘If that’s not motivation to our players, then seriously I don’t know what is,’ said captain Joe Root as England prepared for the pink-ball Test. ‘Hopefully that will work massively in our favour. Knowing the characters in our dressing room, that will really give them a bit of something else to make sure we put things right this week.’ Australia’s verbal attacks before the Ashes and around the first Test have not taken Root by surprise, but he insists there will be no retaliation by England. ‘That’s not how we roll,’ added Root, who said Bairstow was ‘fine’ despite the furore at the Gabba. ‘Their line and our line on what is acceptable are slightly different things. Let’s leave it at that.’ NOW OR NEVER — PAGES 96-97