THE ASHES, 2025-26
Joe Root celebrates his ton at The Oval in the second innings © AFP
England’s star batter Joe Root has reckoned he is ready to end his long-standing drought of not scoring a Test hundred in Australia during the Ashes series that begins next month. Root has played 27 innings in Australia, but hasn’t breached the three-figure mark even once. He has nine fifties there – his highest score of 89 coming on the last away Ashes in Brisbane in 2021.
“But I feel ready for it,” Root said of ending the rut. “Big series are the ones you want to play in and contribute in.”
In the four years since England last toured Australia for the Ashes, Root has raised his game with heaps of runs all around the world. Root closed out 2021 with 1708 runs in the calendar year – leading the Test charts by a big margin (Rohit Sharma’s 908 was the next best). He followed that up with 1098 (27 innings), 787 (14 innings) and 1556 (31 innings) in 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively, and has 571 runs from 10 innings this year. This year, he went past the likes of Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, and Ricky Ponting, to put himself on second spot for most runs in Test history.
While the runs have flowed from Root’s bat, he heads back there without the added baggage of captaining the side. Root was replaced by Ben Stokes as the Test captain after that Ashes tour in 2021.
“I feel I am in a different place to when I last went out there. I haven’t got the responsibility of captaincy and I am a lot more experienced,” the 34-year-old told Sky Sports. “I have had a good couple of years coming in and I have learned good lessons from my previous tours there as a batter and senior player.”
Root also talked up England’s chances of winning their first away Ashes series since 2011 and stressed on not being swayed by personal accolades. This will be the first time England head to Australia for Tests in the Stokes-McCullum era that has been fuelled by their aggressive approach to the format.
“I feel that is the opportunity in front of us that we have to chase and grab,” he added. “If I am doing my role in the team then personal accolades will come, but it’s not the main focus. It’s about winning that urn back as it has been a long time since we held it,” he said.
“I feel we have some serious resources to take out there and hit Australia with. Hopefully we can get that right so if I am scoring heavily it gives us a chance.”
The first of the five-match series will begin on November 21 in Perth.
© Cricbuzz
