Either next week, or next time, Root will get there - but a tweak to his method might help.SA vs IND: Team India Start Practicing On The First Day Of The New Year For 2nd Test If Hobart doesn’t turn out as he’d like, then barring a huge shock, Root will be back on Australian soil in four years time for a (likely) final crack. He is a generational, outstanding batsman and despite the conditions not suiting him as well as others, Root is more than capable of making the runs required to get his statistical monkey off his back. Hobart may yet offer Root the opportunity to get that elusive century in Australia. Despite his own diagnosis, Root’s still showing symptoms. It is probably not a coincidence that Root’s record in those earlier matches was good - as the series has gone on, and the resolve of his teammates has fallen around him, Root has got looser, playing more attacking strokes outside off, three of his last four dismissals. The first four dismissals this series were not drives looking for the boundary, but defensive strokes in some respects he had put the shot away, recognising that the conditions would fight back. To an extent, Root did tweak his game with this in mind. I think it’s just managing your game, managing risk well for long periods of time, being clear where you’re going to score and put pressure back on to them.”
Ultimately, Australia is rarely going to be a prolific hunting ground for this current version of Root - and to an extent, it’s something he admits himself.In conversation with The Guardian ahead of this series, Root reflected on how he viewed the relationship between his own technique and Australian surfaces: “Some of the areas I score very freely in England, through the offside with a straight bat, I’m not sure that’s the best way to play those conditions. Here, playing at balls on a fifth and sixth stump line, which Root does far more than other world class batsmen, is a more fraught exercise, particularly in a series where the pitches have offered sideways movement as well as bounce. The issue for Root is that his strength in home conditions (always managing to score, ticking over the strike against good balls) is a weakness in Australia. Root’s only been out one way this series, and that’s nicking off. His overall record has been secure, playing just 16% false shots and answering almost all of the questions asked of him by Australia’s attack. Comfortably negotiating a world class spinner for 66 (120) without being dismissed? Sorted. For a world-class batsman in the form he’s in, it’s a surprising turn of events.Įliminating the threat posed by bowlers targeting the stumps? Done. There are only 10 instances this century of a batsman getting caught more often in a Test series, let alone exclusively caught behind or in the cordon. Specifically, caught behind the wicket - four by Alex Carey the wicketkeeper, and four by the slip cordon. In the eight innings Root has played in this series, he’s been dismissed caught every single time. As a captain, Root is having a nightmare tour the Summer of Boland shows no sign of stopping any time soon. In the last 24 balls Boland has bowled to Root, he has dismissed him three times for not a single run off the bat. Again, Root looked fluent across his 85 balls at the crease, managing the early stages of recovery after yet another top order collapse again, he was out defending a ball outside off stump and nicking behind, this time from Scott Boland. Today - an ultimately cheering final day as England managed a draw at the last and avoided the whitewash - was no different. Scott Boland has had Joe Root’s number over the last two Tests. In particular, what makes Root’s comparatively lean run more frustrating is the repetitive nature of his dismissals. For a player with a career average of 50, and in world-beating touch, that has undoubtedly contributed to England’s issues. However, despite comfortably outperforming his troops, Root has still averaged less than 35 this series. While many critics and pundits will place some blame on Root’s captaincy for the way the Ashes series has turned out, nobody is going to blame this series on Root’s batting.
When people look back on 2021, through a lens of English cricket, it will likely be Root’s brilliance rather than his team’s inadequacy that defines the year. The combination of Covid-induced bubbles and a barren spell in terms of results has defined England’s Test cricket in recent times, but Root the batsman has endured, and flourished. In the absolute form of his life, the England captain has carried his side through one of the most unique and difficult periods in their modern history. Joe Root has had a spectacular 12 months.
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