Innovative Root looks full of ideas

JOE ROOT had an absolutely brilliant first day in the field as England captain in Australia. In previous away Ashes series it’s not always been easy to distinguish who is captain, to be honest, but that could not be said of Root. With a smile on his face, and exceptional body language, it was crystal clear who was in charge of this team. There were some very carefully thought-out plans and field settings for various batsmen. For example, starting with a deep point for David Warner to cut off an area in which he scores a high percentage of boundaries — not worrying aboutut his ego, or what peoplele in commentary boxes s might say. Or the way Root immediately went to Moeen Ali when the first wicket went down, acknowledging Usman Khawaja’s struggles against off-spin. In fact, Khawaja’s career contrast between playing seam and spin is remarkable. Ahead of this series, his Test average at home — where pace bowlers dominate — was 63.73. But he wasn’t picked for the turning pitches of India earlier this year, then got left out after one Test in Bangladesh. He’s got a weakness — Australia know it, he knows it and Root (above) wanted to show he knows it too at a time and a venue where it would have been easy to stick with his seamers. Khawaja still plays the old-fashioned way against spin, with bat and pad together, and that makes him a walking DRS candidate. The great thing about Ashes battles is that they last five Tests. Who knows if Khawaja will? Because when a seed is sown early on it affects you going forward. Having been dismissed cheaply, he will now be working hard on spin in the nets. This will become psychological, if that’s not already the case. Another Australian mind in which England may have placed a doubt belongs to Warner. He plays an odd short-arm jab shot — we saw it during the 2015 series in England — that results in him splicing the ball up in the air. Jake Ball getting him out that way might mean Warner puts that shot away for a little whilwhile. Root wwill have witnessed first hhand at Yorkshire how far Peter HaHandscomb goes bback in his crease, aand the first four balls after tea Jimmy Anderson bbowled that fullish length at him. Handscomb was pplaying off the back foofoot right in front of his stumps and — AndeAnderson being AndersAnderson — the next delivery wwas pushed up half a metret ffullerll with a slight offcutter action. It was the perfect length. Everyone was asking how England would go on Australian surfaces with the Kookaburra ball. Did Joe Root have a Plan B? Well I thought he had a Plan B, C, D, E and onwards actually. Towards the end of the second day, Root tried to be creative with men on the drive and each bowler was clinical in the application of the specific individual plans they’ve devised for Steve Smith. My worry is I am not sure you can outdo Smith for patience. One thing this attack lacks is that extra pace to break the kind of partnership that developed for Australia late on day two. But Root was excellent with what he had at his disposal.