Root: Ramps’ kick gave me motivation

Coach questioned star’s mentality

JOE ROOT has revealed it was a “hurtful” comment from England batting coach Mark Ramprakash that forced him to reappraise his approach to Test match batting, leading to his double hundred in last week’s second Test.

Root says that – after a run of poor form in the early-summer series against Sri Lanka – another failure to make a big impression in the opening Investec Test against Pakistan at Lord’s left him searching for answers.

Frustrated by what he saw as throwing his wicket away with loose shots, prior to the second Test in Manchester he approached Ramprakash for answers and admits that what he heard came as a shock to the system, saying: “I looked back at a number of dismissals and thought ‘that’s not good enough, I’ve got to be doing better than that’.

“It was almost like the final straw at Lord’s. I’d really wound myself up and I knew having been moved up the order, being 1-0 down in the series, I needed to put a really big performance in.

“I spoke to Mark Ramprakash about areas I could potentially go further with my game.

“One thing he said was ‘are you mentally in the right place to play Test cricket at the minute?’

“I didn’t even think about that at the time. That sort of hurt me, that someone would say that to me. But of course I thought about it and really honed in on practice and how I wanted to approach the rest of the series.

“I think it had something to do with switching across three forms. I don’t think it’s a fatigue thing or tiredness mentally, it was just the way I was approaching it, and it was still a little bit edging towards oneday cricket, expecting to score at a certain rate or play in a way that didn’t really suit the situation and the way they were bowling.

“The fact that Ramps picked up on that and I was able to turn that round in quite a short space of time was really pleasing. It was exactly what I needed to hear, and why he is such a good batting coach.”

Root responded with his second Test double-century in Manchester to set up victory by 330 runs and a fascinating climax to the series, level at 1-1 with two to play, starting at Edgbaston on Wednesday.

England’s 13-man squad for the third Test against Pakistan: Alastair Cook, Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Gary Ballance, Jake Ball, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, James Vince, Chris Woakes.