Joe Root is ready for The Ashes this time around

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World of Sport Reporter: @worldofsport

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With The Ashes only a week away, England captain Joe Root opens up about his and England’s failure the last time the Ashes were played in Australia. A 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Australia and dropped for the final Test will no be something Root fondly looks back on when he’s an old man.

This time around Root, 26, is a different prospect. He’s the main man. He’s the England captain. And he knows he’s the one who the Aussies will be targeting in their attempt to unsettle the tourists. The Yorkshireman admits he was taken off guard on his maiden Ashes tour and is determined to learn from the mistakes of 2013/14.

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And the England captain is confident he is returning wiser as well as older, as England go in pursuit of the famous little urn. And he admits that he should and could have done things differently on the 2013/14 tour.

“I don’t know whether that might have been slightly unfair on the rest of the side,” he said. “But I think me personally, I wasn’t ready. 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 – and feel really ready for that aspect of Test cricket, which you do experience here in Australia.”

At the time of the last Ashes, England were in search of a world-class opener, and although Root had all the promise, and has proven to be that now, he wasn’t quite ready for what The Ashes does to a Englishman in Australia. It’s a harsh place to play cricket.

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Australia is a tough place to play cricket as the conditions are against you. The Baggy Greens are one of the best teams in the world. They love nothing better than winning The Ashes. They have to win it at home, the media and public demand it. And they let the tourists know.

A 5-0 whitewash is never easy to take, but it’s even harder at your biggest rivals, who have the whole nation behind them, and you’re there being pummelled for 2 months. It can be a lonely experience. But these experiences is where we learn most. And Root is happy to recall his experience to help the team this time around.

“I think conversations about last time can be healthy, if they’re done in the right way, and I think more than anything you’ve got to look at it as a huge opportunity,” 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, playing for your country, Ashes series, lot of history – you want to be a part of that. That’s the way I want to approach it.”

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And he knows this time around he is going to be targeted by the Aussie bowlers. If they can unsettle the captain, they will unsettle the team. That’s always been the Aussie philosophy, and Root knows this, and is quite at ease with it.

“People are going to look at your technique,” he said. “Look at ways you’ve got out 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. I think it’s something they use as a tool sometimes, to try to get the crowd and the public behind it, try to get on my back verbally. If they’re wasting energy trying harder at me, then I hope that works well for the rest of the guys.”

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The first Test starts next Thursday 27th November at the Gabba, Brisbane. It’s a ground famously difficult to win at as the Australians haven’t lost there for 25 years. It’s going to be a tall order for England, and my money is on the Baggy Greens to win the series, but if Joe Root and England can unsettle the Aussies, it might just quieten the nation, and who knows, anything is possible.

Prediction: It won’t be 5-0 this time around. I see a much tighter series, but ultimately the Aussies to win 3-2.

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