Joe Root criticized the lengths his bowlers offered when England lost 2-0 in Adelaide, urging them to be bolder in their search for grounds; “It’s about working together with them, it’s not a dictatorship. From time to time you don’t always agree on everything, and that’s fine.”
Joe Root says the whole England team is heading in the same direction
Joe Root insists that the entire England team is moving in the same direction ahead of the Boxing Day Ashes Test, and emphasizes that his captaincy is not a “dictatorship.”
Root criticized the lengths his bowlers offered when tourists lost 2-0 in Adelaide, urging them to be bolder in their search for land when competition resumes in front of 70,000 fans at MCG.
Former England rapid Steve Harmison suggested he could drive gaps on the field, saying talk about sports he would have “been waiting for him at the top of the stairs” if a skipper had made similar comments back in his game days.
But Root has also been critical of hitting, including his own failure to post a century in the first two Tests, as well as close reception.
When asked how his words went with James Anderson and Stuart Broad, the most prolific land grabbers in English history, he explained: “What I said at the end of the game, it’s not about pointing fingers. I don’t know. try to point at the players. or try to blame a department, collectively we weren’t good enough.
“They asked me some direct questions after the game about our bowling alley and I answered them. If they had asked me about hitting, I would have said something very similar.
“I like to give the responsibility to our senior bowlers, they have more than 300 tests and more than 1000 fields between them. They know what they are doing, they are highly skilled bowlers, wonderfully talented players who have done great time and time again. performances for us.
“So it’s about working alongside them, it’s not a dictatorship. Every now and then, you don’t always agree on everything, and that’s okay. Ultimately, it’s about getting to a point where you get the results you want. “
England are in life and death territory in Melbourne, knowing that their hopes of recovering the ballot box will be extinguished if they cannot conjure their first victory in 13 events in Australia.
Root is eager to seize the opportunity and knows his team has no choice but to improve.
“Having the opportunity to play in the Boxing Day Test is very special and with where the series is currently located, it is a very exciting opportunity,” he said.
“Clearly we’re going to have to play a lot better than we did in the first two games, but I hope we do just that. It has to be better, it’s as simple as that. The two performances that we did have not been good enough. There have been basic mistakes but we have talked about it, we have addressed it and I hope we are better. “
Root can take comfort in the fact that this was the reason England stopped rotting in 2017/18, claiming a tie on the back of an Alastair Cook Double Century to avoid the ignominy of a cover-up.
The field is expected to be livelier than it was four years ago, when Cook cashed on a dead surface, but Root still hopes to take over from his predecessor.
“That is exactly what is required. Someone has to stand up and do that kind of performance.”
“He is a great example that an English player can do it on this ground and it would be great to see him this time. As a leader, he hopes you will set that example and that is exactly what we will try to do in boxing.” Day.”
Australian Cameron Green is in no rush to be compared to his Ashes counterpart Ben Stokes, the all-rounder he calls “the best in the world.”
While England has built its most famous Ashes moments around action artists like Sir Ian Botham, Andrew Flintoff, and now Stokes, Australia has been searching for one of their own for years.
As a 6-foot-6 bowler hitting number six, the 22-year-old Green could be the missing piece of the Baggy Greens puzzle. He has already played his part in helping the hosts go 2-0 up before the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, picking England captain Root twice between his five wickets and conceding less than one over to dry the score.
His hitting has yet to skyrocket, but with a top-class eight hundred there are also plenty of promise.
Stokes has been sincere but hasn’t worked his best magic since returning from a mental health hiatus, however Green is happy to give in to his opposite number.
“I’m not trying to compare myself to Ben Stokes. I think he’s the best in the world,” Green said.
“It’s quite dangerous if you try to compare him to him so I’ll have to see how it goes. I’m sure that when I play more tests, I’ll have a little more confidence to be able to do it. [what Stokes does], build a little more confidence in yourself that you can win a match on your own.
