Rob Key: “If Root can do it in this series, that brings him to the completely elite level with the Pontings, the Laras and all that. He’s started really well,” says the Sky Sports expert strongly on day three for England in Brisbane. was vital to the game and the rest of The Ashes series
Rob Key says Joe Root is about to join the “completely elite level” of all the batsmen in the Test after approaching the first hundred of Ashes in Australia.
Root is unbeaten at 86 after the third day of the first Test in Brisbane and hopes to turn his fifty-seventh Test in Australia into a three-figure first score, with his best so far a total of 87 in Adelaide in 2013.
The England captain has scored a national record of 1,541 runs in test cricket in 2021, surpassing the previous record of 1,481 set by Michael Vaughan in 2002, and Key said success in Australia is Root’s “last frontier”.
“Our captain is a good player, one of our best cricketers,” said Key, a former batsman for England and Kent. Sky Sports News.
“If he can do it in this series, that takes him to a completely elite level with the Pontings, the Laras and all of that. He’s started really well.”
Root, who was sacked by a duck on day one at The Gabba, and Dawid Malan (80th) have shared an unbroken partnership of 159 in third field to lead England from 61-2 to 220-2 in their second inning and cut to the tourists. ‘deficit to just 58 runs.
Malan said: “Hitting with Root is great. It takes the pressure off you and he’s always looking to score. He always seems to find a way to put pressure on bowlers again. His method works everywhere he plays.
“For him to continue the way he had this year [in the subcontinent in the winter and then at home in England] it has been fantastic. It’s a great sign for us as a team that they are playing well and leading from the front. “
Sky Sports’ Added Ian Ward: “There is a lot at Root’s plate and especially after not scoring in the first inning, you can only imagine the pressure he must have felt going with England down two relatively early.
“He seems to be in a very good place to divide the captaincy, the pressures that come with it and his hitting. Rooting the batter is arguably more important than his captaincy, it’s that important in terms of runs.”
Australia led by 278 in the first inning after responding to England’s 147 on the first day with 425 as Travis Head scored 152 of 148 deliveries.
Reflecting on the third day, which started with Australia at 343-7 and on to 196, Key said: “You thought that with everything that’s happened, England was going to have problems. All the momentum was with Australia.
“I was there in 2002/03 and they beat us in the first test and you started thinking, ‘We can never beat these guys.’
“But a partnership like the one that Root and Malan have established goes right into that locker room and shows that they can score runs here.
“What happens in Australia is that all that is talked about becomes how good the Australian bowling attack is, how good Nathan Lyon is compared to our spinner. [Jack Leach]. Do not worry about that. You can score runs against them and they have done it in a positive way.
“England would still be in a better position if Root had chosen to go bowling on day one, but this is now the kind of pitch that English batsmen will dream of. They never get to hit on pitches as good as this, this is it. cricket for real. “
“In England normally you just put the ball in a good length and it does something, but this field in Brisbane is a good testing ground.
“There is something for bowlers, but it seems absolutely great for batsmen. There is some rhythm, which is so rare in England, and you can play your shots. It must be a pleasure for them to hit.”
England still have Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler in their second inning as they look to establish Australia as a demanding target for the fourth inning.
Key added: “Australia will be a wreck. After a day like this, you’re happy to be out of the field.”
“But they will be thinking, and [head coach] Justin Langer will play the drums for them, there will be a new dance soon.
“That is their next window of opportunity and if they do it right, they will feel like they are still in the box.
“Australia is still the favorite, but England are back in this game, and you feel like they’re almost back in this series. You feel like if they had been impressed in this game, it might have been difficult for them to come back.”
