Root ready for series that will ‘define my captaincy’
England captain Joe Root has declared himself ready for an Ashes series that he admitted would “define my captaincy”.
Statistically Root is already his country’s most successful Test leader, overtaking mentor Michael Vaughan in the summer when he oversaw a 27th victory over India at Headingley.
But he has yet to get the better of Australia, having suffered a 4-0 defeat in his previous campaign down under followed by a 2-2 draw in 2019 which saw the tourists retain the urn.
So when Root steps out for the first Test at the Gabba on Wednesday, he knows his reputation is on the line. “Of course it will define my captaincy, I’m not naive enough to think it won’t,” he said at a series launch that saw him come to faceto-face with his opposite number, Pat Cummins.
“If you look how hard it’s been for English captains and English teams [to win in Australia] over the years, it has been something which doesn’t happen very often. But what a great opportunity. I’m very excited about it.”
The numbers do make uneasy reading. England have triumphed just once behind enemy lines in the past eight trips, losing nine of their last 10 Tests and drawing the other. The success of 2010-11, when Sir Andrew Strauss led a famous 3-1 win, accounts for half of their Test victories in Australia over the past
30 years. For Root, that historical adversity is the perfect backdrop to do something special.
“What better stage to really grab a series and make an announcement on the international stage? To say, ‘I’m an Ashes player and I want to live in the history of this great rivalry’. That carrot is there for everyone.” Meanwhile, England head coach Chris Silverwood declared Ben Stokes fit and ready for an Ashes return at the Gabba, after an eightmonth break from Test cricket, and admitted it is a “massive” lift to have their champion all-rounder back. Stokes has not played Test cricket since March or appeared for England in any format since July due to a combination of a badly broken finger and mental exhaustion. He was a late addition to the squad after making a quicker than expected recovery from a second operation on his finger, but has made the most of England’s haphazard preparation by taking wickets and scoring runs in their rain-affected intra-squad match last week.
Asked if he expected Stokes to be fit, Silverwood said: “He has definitely not told me any different and from the noises I’m hearing I should imagine he’ll be coming in and telling me he’s ready.” Stokes commands enormous respect from the Australians after his Headingley heroics in 2019 and his presence inspires his teammates to feel more confident. That includes the head coach. “It is massive, really. We felt a lift when his name came back into the hat for being on tour,” said Silverwood. “We love having him around, not just from his cricket point of view. But him as a person gives us a lift. He is a leader in his own right. “From a cricketing point of view, we’ve seen how devastating he is. Certainly, that knock at Headingley will be hurting the Australians, so they will be wary. They know he can take anybody down.”