Root: We must not let Smith drive us to distraction

Australian ‘puts you off ’ with antics at the crease Captain believes Archer will cause big problems

There are quirky players – and then there is this man …

England have to ignore Steve Smith’s tics and mannerisms if they are to work out a way of getting him out and save their Ashes hopes, according to captain Joe Root.

Root has admitted for the first time that England allowed Smith’s idiosyncratic batting style to throw them off their plans in the first Test at Edgbaston, where he became only the fifth Australian to score a century in each innings of a Test.

During the last Ashes series, Australian broadcaster Channel Nine counted Smith going through 23 twitches and movements before putting bat to ball. At Edgbaston he appeared even more jumpy early on as he looked to conquer the movement of the Dukes ball.

Root believes England lacked patience in Birmingham and he was partly to blame by setting quirky fields too quickly to shut off Smith’s unusual scoring areas instead of concentrating on the basics of hitting off stump and finding the outside edge. Smith scored 215 at Lord’s in a 405-run Australia win four years ago and since then is averaging 95 against England with six hundreds in 14 innings, including a double century.

“It’s something you’ve got to look past,” Root said of Smith’s technique. “A lot of what he does is try to put you off in a way, trying to make it look extremely different, so you have to think way outside the box. You look at his dismissals over a period of time, it’s not far away from everyone else’s, though the movements before and after it might look slightly different.

“You’re always looking at different ways you can try to get someone out. I think maybe one thing that we could have done slightly better, me as captain, was stick to a plan for a little bit longer, give it a chance to work. But he did play well. I think it was 18 times early on in that first innings he played and missed. It could have been very different. In some ways, that’s a sign that plans are working. We’ve just got to be a bit more patient.”

Of the two teams it is England, the home side, who are less clear about their best XI for this game. England usually name their team the day before the match but the threat of heavy rain today has made them cautious.

England want to squeeze in Sam Curran but that would mean dropping Joe Denly. It is rare for a team to go into a Test match thinking of dropping their No4 and it sums up the state of their batting. The pitch is very dry, so spinner Jack Leach should play even if it is a damp start.

Jofra Archer will make his Test debut and his pace will pose Smith a new challenge. Root likes Archer’s confidence and the way he responded to Australians questioning his first-class bowling experience despite a career average of 23 for Sussex. They were right in that he has played only 28 first-class matches, mostly in the second division, and it would be remarkable if he were fully fit, given he admitted to being in excruciating pain from a side injury during the World Cup. But England players have talked this week about how nasty he has been to face in the nets and Root described Archer’s bouncer as “not pleasant” to play against.

The only time Smith looked fazed at Edgbaston was when Ben Stokes hit him on the head at the end of the third day. Earlier this year, Archer revealed that Smith did not want to face him in the nets when they played together at the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, preferring instead to have throwdowns from the coaches.

“If you ask him, he’ll definitely say yes,” Root said when asked if Archer was the man to win the Ashes for England. “Having heard his press conference yesterday, he’s certainly confident. That’s great to see in a young guy, as he should be off the back of a brilliant World Cup. As he made clear, he says it’s his preferred format, red ball.

“He’s exciting to stand at slip to, and he’s a very skilful young guy. He can swing the ball both ways. He’s got a good bouncer and bowls at good pace consistently. So I’m sure he’ll cause problems on most surfaces. Hopefully, he can exploit this one this time around.”

Lose here and the Ashes are over for England, who have to win the series to regain the urn. The last time a team came back from a 2-0 deficit to win the series was in 1936-37 but that victorious Australia team included Don Bradman. Root knows what is at stake.

“We’re in English conditions and we really back ourselves to come back strong after last week,” he said. “We’ve proven that we do that time and time again when we’ve been defeated, especially at home.

“I’m expecting a big response from the boys. Last week will have hurt everyone and everyone will be absolutely desperate to go and win this week. I expect nothing less.”