ENGLAND’S GIANTS ARE REDUCED TO ASHES

Much was expected of Root & Cook but their failure has summed up England’s nightmare

JOE ROOT and Alastair Cook’s second-innings failures in Perth summed up England’s tour of hell to leave serious question marks over both players.

They have been twin pillars of the English game for several years and in the case of Cook no-one has done more, or could be more proud of the service they have provided for the game.

And yet the sight of the only man to have played 150 Tests for England leaving the arena where he scored his first Ashes hundred 11 years ago, for 14 was to be reminded of just how much of a slog the game has become for him.

Cook is keen to remind all it was only five games ago he scored a double hundred against the West Indies, and his desire burns just as brightly as it did when he first started. He is right of course.

But the fact remains players of his quality and calibre are not judged simply on the number of runs they score, but on when they score them and against whom. As far as Cook and Root are concerned their dry patch could and should have come in the summer against a weak and raw West Indies, the double hundreds needed to come against Australia in the Ashes.

This is where the senior players had to stand up to be counted, but they have gone missing.

Not only do they perform in the big series, they do it early when it is all on the line, just like Steve Smith has done, and just like Cook did in 2010/11.

By the time the series moves on to Melbourne Cook and Root may have missed their chance to affect this contest while it is still alive and it will be a huge source of regret for both men who are capable of more.

Former team-mate Kevin Pietersen (inset, top) tweeted about Cook: “He’s had a good career but it’s up now.”

Fellow 2010/11 Ashes winner Graeme Swann (inset, bottom) added: “He looked OK until he got out, but I can’t see a great longevity in his career, unless he gets a big score that makes him feel it’s worth carrying on.”

All four Aussie bowlers have done a job on the pair of them, testing their technique and their gameplans to the maximum and have won resoundingly. “It was a pretty special wicket to get Cook,” said Josh Hazlewood (inset, far right) after his stunning caught and bowled effort.

“We’re happy to have kept Cook and Root quiet. We have really stuck to our plans on them and we’ve done well against them this series.”

Swann stood against the crowd earlier this year and questioned the wisdom of making Root captain because of the negative impact it could have on his batting, and his dismissal to Nathan Lyon added weight to his theory.

He added: “Joe Root could be our best-ever player. There’s no difference between Joe Root and Steve Smith in terms of ability.

“Yet Smith is so much more prolific than Root because the captaincy suits Smith.

“He’s flourished. To me, that’s not Joe’s way. He was made captain because there was a lack of choice.”