If they want to target me, bring it on!
ROOT RELISHES AUSSIE ATTACKS
Joe Root looked ahead yesterday to the biggest test of his fledgling captaincy and insisted he’s enjoying england’s status here as Ashes underdogs.
History tells you Australia are rarely beaten on home soil, especially by england, but even though Root’s first tour at the helm has got off to a far from convincing start, he is adamant his side have enough bite to pull off an upset.
‘It’s almost against all odds, isn’t it?’ said Root ahead of today’s final warm-up against a Cricket Australia XI.
‘We’re in their back yard. everyone in the ground will think they’re playing for Australia and they’ll do everything to help them.
‘We’ve got the chance to upset that, to do something special. We’re playing for our country in an Ashes series and we want to be part of history. that’s the way I’m approaching it.’
Root talked impressively here in north Queensland and was even happy about Australia’s insistence that they are, as usual, targeting the captain, one tV crew likening their approach to ‘cutting off the head of the snake’.
‘I’ve heard a lot of chat about me but we’ll be targeting every one of them, so bring it on,’ said Root.
‘I don’t know what targeting the captain is. You go into every series expecting to be targeted. People are going to look at your technique, look at ways you’ve got out and try to work out the best way to combat you scoring runs. I don’t see how this will be different from any other series.
‘It just might be a bit different mentally. It’s something they use as a tool to get the crowd and the public behind them. they’ll try to get them on my back verbally.
‘I don’t know if they’re going to try harder towards me but if they’re wasting energy doing that, I hope that works well for the rest of the guys!’
It was the noise around Ashes series, particularly in Australia, that Root admits got to him as a young player when he was part of the last 5-0 thrashing.
‘I wasn’t ready,’ said Root, who was dropped for the final test of that 2013-14 series in Sydney.
‘everything seemed to happen quickly. one thing for me this time will be making sure the game is played at my pace, trying to be calm in the middle. I feel ready for that aspect of test cricket, which you do experience here.
‘We are a bit wiser this time. We have to be ready for anything they throw at us. We expect it to be hostile, we expect it to be a very loud and rowdy atmosphere at the Gabba. Hopefully we are in a good place and are ready for that.’
the captain is delighted with how his younger players are now adapting to life on the biggest tour of all and there is a sense around england that a tight-knit group have been brought even closer by the Ben Stokes affair.
‘they’ve not looked intimidated or shy or threatened in any way,’ said Root. ‘they’ve just thrown themselves into it all and that’s the approach you need.’
england have decided not to shut themselves away in Australia as a reaction to what happened with Stokes and Alex Hales. they even took time out on Monday for a townsville paintballing session.
‘It was good fun,’ said Root, despite a bruise on an arm caused by him being targeted again, this time by his own team.
‘there was a bit of friendly fire, which didn’t go down well! the beauty of this group is that you don’t have to manufacture togetherness. We’re pretty tight, so when someone suggested paintballing we were all in it together. It’s important we look after each other but I’m sure we will do that.’
england went into today’s game with their expected top seven for the first test and what will probably be their attack in Brisbane, too, with the exception of Jimmy Anderson, who missed practice with a minor virus. In his absence Mason Crane was given another game, indicating england expect him to play at some point in this series.
Jake Ball hopes to be running today and there is still a chance he will edge out Craig overton at the Gabba as he was so impressive before his ankle-ligament injury.
ENGLAND: Cook, Stoneman, Vince, Root (capt), Malan, Bairstow (wkt), Moeen, Woakes, Overton, Broad, Crane.