ROOT'S UP FOR IT
Skipper’s ready this time
JOE ROOT is ready for whatever Australia throw at him after admitting he was ambushed on England’s last tour here four years ago.
The current skipper’s first Ashes experience Down Under in 2013-14 saw England whitewashed 5-0, with Mitchell Johnson running riot and the Yorkshireman dropped for the final Test in Sydney. But his form has since taken off and he believes the events of four years ago will stand him in good stead ahead of next week’s opener in Brisbane. “Me personally, I think I wasn’t ready,” Root said of the last tour. “Everything seemed to happen quite quickly. “I think one thing for me this time will be making sure the game is played at my pace, trying to be nice and calm and collected out in the middle.” Root says the rout four years ago, inspired by Johnson’s 37 wickets, will not be glossed over as England look for a winning formula. “I think conversations about last time can be healthy, if they’re done in the right way,” he said. “It’s almost against all the odds, isn’t it? “You’re in their backyard – everyone in the ground seems to think that they’re playing for Australia and they’ll do everything they can to help their side. “You’ve got the opportunity to upset that, go and do something really special, Ashes series, lot of history – you want to be a part of that.”
The 26-year-old, speaking before England’s final warm-up match against a Cricket Australia XI – which was scheduled to start in Townsville overnight – wants the talking to stop and the real action to start.
“I just want the first Test to come round,” he said.
“There’s been a lot of talk. Some of it exciting and some of it a load of rubbish, especially from some of the Aussie players.
“I’ve heard a lot of chat about targeting me in particular.
“From our point of view, we’ll be targeting every single one of them – we won’t be singling anyone out.
Combat
“To win a Test you’ve got to take 20 wickets and score more runs than them.”
But he acknowledges he will be in the sights of both home crowd and players.
Root added: “You go into every series expecting you’re going to get targeted, as a batter. People are going to look at your technique and try to work out what’s the best way to combat you scoring runs.
“I don’t see how that will be any different from any other series.
“But in terms of how I’m going to prepare, it won’t be any different to any other major series – tempo, technique wise in practice, but mentally it might be slightly different.
“If they’re wasting energy trying harder at me, then I hope that works well for the rest of the guys.”