ROOT: WE WILL RISE FOR ASHES

Skipper is undaunted by past failures

BY

JOE ROOT’S Test record in Australia should act as a fairly firm brake on any runaway optimism ahead of next week’s Ashes opener at the Gabba.

Nine attempts spread over two visits, five as the England captain, and nothing but mental scarring and a bit-part in a bore draw at Melbourne to show for his efforts.

Despite such a bruising personal history and a tour in which preparations have been hammered by Covid, bad weather and a squad separated by quarantine restrictions until this morning, he believes this time could be different.

He feels England have a “brilliant opportunity” to achieve something that has happened only once in the last eight attempts.

“I know exactly what it’s like to be on the wrong side of series out here,” said Root.

“It’s a dream, isn’t it? For an

England player to play in Australia and win is the dream. The cherry on top, if you like. We feel we have a brilliant opportunity ahead of us.

“We’ve prepared as well as we can and if we can control our emotions, play to our skill levels, be smart in certain situations and do things differently to how we’ve done them previously, I believe we’ve a brilliant chance to do something special.”

England’s T20 World Cup players and senior coaching staff including Chris Silverwood have been kept apart until now due to Covid quarantine.

Root admitted such a compressed preparation means they need to gain the maximum benefit from the final four-day warm-up which started in Brisbane overnight. He said: “There have been a lot of other distractions for us in terms of the weather, so it’s important we can get this next phase leading into the game absolutely right.”

Root and head coach Silverwood will demand Test-match intensity in the warm-up. “A lot of people will want to prove things, and will want to show they deserve an opportunity for that first Test match,” said Root.

“I expect the standards to be very high, and I expect it to be very competitive.”

Root revealed how he feared Ben Stokes’ Ashes were over when he was struck on the left arm in the nets by a ball from batting coach Jonathan Trott. “To see Ben get hit like that was obviously a scary moment.

“We all know how crucial he is but he seems to have come through it pretty well. He practised again today and we’ll keep assessing.”