Root: We won’t stoop to Aussie style verbals
ENGLAND captain Joe Root has warned Australia that their glee at manipulating the Jonny Bairstow ‘head-butt’ incident following the Brisbane Test will give his team all the motivation they need to level the series in Adelaide.
The home side’s sledging of Bairstow at the Gabba – centred on the head-butt greeting he gave Australia opener Cameron Bancroft in a Perth bar during the first week of the tour – was picked up on the stump mic and led to a media storm that forced England into imposing a midnight curfew on their players.
Although all sides admit there was no malicious intent from Bairstow, Australia were quick to make capital out of the incident in a way that has irked Root and the rest of the tour party.
The sight of Australia captain Steve Smith laughing uncontrollably as Bancroft, sat beside him in the post-match Press conference at the Gabba, recounted the incident in minute detail sat uncomfortably with England, adding insult to their 10wicket defeat in the first Test.
And Root insists it will be a driving motivation for his team to turn the tables on the Australians in the day-night Test in Adelaide.
“Well if that’s not motivation to the players I don’t know what is,” he said.“You look at the end of the game and you are obviously very disappointed but to see a reaction like that in a Press conference…
“I mean if that can’t get you up for the next game then I don’t know what can. Hopefully, that will work massively in our favour.
“I know it’s an Ashes series, there is a lot on the line and naturally you are going to be motivated for every game but knowing the characters in our dressing-room that will really give them a bit of something else to make sure we put things right this week.”
Smith yesterday admitted he was laughing at how much trouble the story has caused England as much as Bancroft’s deadpan, comic delivery. “It was a bit of both, really,” he said. “England can use it whatever way they like to be honest. I certainly couldn’t hold myself together. I thought it was hilarious and we’ve moved on. If they want to use it as some kind of motivation then go for it.”
Australia have vowed to carry on sledging England throughout the series, with batsman Peter Handscomb, a former team-mate of Bairstow at Yorkshire, saying: “It’s something that’s part of the game – always has been, always will be. So if there’s a moment where we can exploit someone’s mental capabilities then, yeah, we’re going to go about it.
“When I played with Jonny at Yorkshire we had a great time together. But it’s a different ball game now.
“I’m not trying to make him feel good about himself – that’s not my job. During the Ashes, mate, it’s about winning the game for Australia first and foremost.”
Smith is satisfied his players did not overstep the mark at the Gabba.
“You want to play it nice and hard and aggressively and we know there’s a line there and we don’t want to cross it,” he said.“So we’re going to continue to play that way and, hopefully, have the same success we had it Brisbane.”
Asked what the line was, Smith added: “You know what’s right and what’s wrong out there. You’ve just got to make sure you stay within the rules and regulations of the game.”
However, Root insists England, a team not known for on-field verbals these days, will not be dragged down to Australia’s level.
“No that’s not how we roll as a team,” he said. “I think it is very important we continue to play this tour in the manner that we have gone about it so far and that we don’t get involved in petty disputes and arguments that are nothing to do with cricket.”
Was there anger at the way Australia exploited the Bairstow incident?
“I wouldn’t say anger,” he said. “The thing that is on my mind at the moment is how we respond to it and make sure we do it in our way and not get dragged in to doing it in their way.”