How reinvented Root became Aussies' biggest headache

In the months after England's miserable 2021-22 Ashes tour, Joe Root reiterated his desire to stay on as England captain despite his team having just one win to show from his last 17 Tests at the helm.

"I think I've made it quite clear at the start of this game and throughout this tour, I'm very passionate about trying to take this team forward," England's beleaguered skipper said after their series defeat to West Indies in Grenada in March 2022.

Those words were swiftly overtaken by the fact that match would, in fact, prove to be his last in the job.

Yet even though he might not have envisioned quite how he would do it, Root has made good on his wish to take his team forward.

And despite Australia's insistence that the mind-bending tactics England employed at Edgbaston are nothing new for them, the reinvigorated approach of Root is shaping as the visitors' single greatest challenge for the rest of the series.

The enthralling spectacle of England's bold and unusual strategies coming up against Australia's mastery and adherence of traditional grinding qualities might have overshadowed just how much of a bearing Root had on keeping his side in the Test.

Only one of his teammates managed to put together even half of Root's match tally of 164 runs – a figure that could have swelled further if not for Ben Stokes' first-innings declaration gamble – but it was the manner in which he scored that left such an impact.

For starters, there were the reverse ramps.

"I actually enjoyed it," said Pat Cummins, who Root had tried (unsuccessfully) to hoist over the slip cordon on the first ball of day four.

While Cummins went on to point out bowlers have gotten used to that type of audacity in the game's shorter formats, Root challenged Australia in ways they have never been challenged in Test cricket.

According to Opta, only India's Rishabh Pant had attempted to reverse sweep or ramp an Australian fast bowler in a Test before Root. While those records only began a little over a decade ago, it is safe to assume no batter had been brave enough to try it before then.

The stroke, against fast bowlers, still remains exceedingly rare in Test cricket. Ollie Pope, Stokes and Pant are the only other Test batters credited by Opta for attempting it more than once against pace.

Even Travis Head, Australia's most daring top-order player, said there is "not a chance" he would try it in a Test. He openly conceded his admiration for Root's use of it.

"He's actually played the reverse scoop unbelievably well," Travis Head, speaking to cricket.com.au's Unplayable Podcast this week, said of Root's reverse ramp that yielded him 22 runs from six attempts in the Ashes series opener, including three sixes, one off Cummins and two off Scott Boland.

"He missed one and it was the first ball of the day. Once he's been set he's found a way to get bat on it."

The stroke has not only brought him 52 runs from 19 attempts in Tests under Stokes, it has posed novel questions of opposition captains. Cummins was forced to relegate one of his slips to a fine third-man, almost at a back-stop, after successful reverse-ramps off Boland at Edgbaston.

It meant there was one fewer fielder in a catching or a run-saving position that Root had to worry about.

Even putting the reverse-ramp aside, Australia know they are bowling at a completely different version of the man they kept to 322 runs at 32 in 10 innings during the last Ashes campaign – which was England's largest haul for the series.

"The way he's batting I think is exquisite," said Marnus Labuschagne. "His weight transfer, the way he's getting into the ball – I'm just talking about when he's batting normally – I think he's playing really well."

During the 2021-22 Ashes, almost three-quarters of the balls Root faced were dots. In Birmingham, he had reduced that figure to nearly 50 per cent, while he is also leaving half as many deliveries as he was during '21-22.

It negates Australia's simple aim of bowling accurately to cause a build-up of pressure.

"Every tactic … is about how can we get them to play a defensive shot or get them to play a shot in an area where they don't want to play it," said Head.

"There's going to be a lot of cat and mouse throughout this series. We've seen that early, and we'll (continue to) see some fielders in some spots that we've never really seen them before."

Against spin too, Root is front of mind for the Aussies.

At Australia's main pre-Lord's Test training session on Monday, Nathan Lyon enlisted their squad's back-up wicketkeeper to bat like Root as practice for the real thing.

"I had James Peirson, come out and try and replicate Joe Root, the way he's batting," said Lyon. "Rooty's obviously batting incredibly well at the moment, the way he's been able to manipulate fields and stuff, so I was asking James to put me under pressure."

The freedom that has taken Root to even greater heights as a Test batter since handing over the captaincy to Stokes is notable given his admission earlier this year that he felt unsure of how he fitted into England's Bazball-inspired batting line-up.

That revelation came despite a trio of centuries during the early days of the new regime, having then had a seven-Test stretch in which he averaged just 22.

Since then, the right-hander has peeled off scores of 153no, 95, 56, 118no and 46, and done so at a significantly quicker clip than was once the case: pre-Bazball, Root's strike-rate stood at 55; since, it has jumped to 78.

But that extra aggression is precisely what Australia hope will be his downfall.

On day four at Edgbaston, Root charged at Lyon and aimed an almighty slog to be stumped for the first time in his career. He had hardly played a false shot for the Test until that point, let alone offered a chance.

"From my perspective, him playing that method and those shots are keeping us in the game," said Labuschagne.

"I use that second innings as an example. He probably had an opportunity to shut us out and take the game away from us completely. But the method and the way he was playing kept us in the game.

"He played an unbelievable innings but he ended up getting (46) and if he turns that into 80-plus we're chasing 300 and that's going to be a pretty big effort.

"I think that's the benefit for us (with) the way they're playing.

"They're playing aggressive cricket and he's doing it with a different method, which is great, but it brings in other opportunities for us. Hopefully at some point in the series that will keep paying off."

2023 Qantas Ashes Tour of the UK

First Test: Australia won by two wickets

Second Test: Wednesday June 28-Sunday July 2, Lord’s

Third Test: Thursday July 6-Monday July 10, Headingley

Fourth Test: Wednesday July 19-Sunday July 23, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: Thursday July 27-Monday 31, The Oval

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood