'I wanted it too much': Root faces up to Ashes drought

England skipper Joe Root says greater familiarity with Australian conditions and its bowlers as well as a shift in mindset has him ready to end his decade-long century drought down under this season.

Root and England's Test specialists will fly to Australia on Friday, giving them more than a month to prepare for the first of five Vodafone Ashes Tests, at the Gabba from December 8.

The trip will be Root's sixth to Australia; he played Premier (club) cricket in Adelaide during England's famous Ashes triumph of 2010-11, was part of their past two Test campaigns – where the tourists failed to win a game – and also played in the 2015 World Cup as well as the 2018-19 KFC BBL season.

As a teenager, Root was unable to score a century during his summer in South Australia more than a decade ago, but he cited England's free-scoring batters that season as having provided the blueprint the current team need to follow if they are to end their winless run on Australian soil.

That golden summer including nine individual centuries for England's batters, including three from opener Alistair Cook, who averaged 128 for the series.

Having himself never raised his bat for a hundred in Australia in any format, Root says he and the whole England batting unit need to take responsibility for producing long and meaningful innings this summer.

"It's the one series where you're desperate to go and stamp your mark on it and play with authority and have that big series like Cooky had ... and come away having won an Ashes series in Australia," Root, the world's top-ranked Test batter, said on Tuesday.

"That's the dream.

"The most important thing is weight of runs. To be successful there, generally sides have to make big scores and you have to manage that well. That comes down to the responsibility of all the batters.

"You have to separate the mentality of what might be a good score in English conditions and understand the hard work and different challenges (posed by) Australian wickets and that environment."

Root will arrive in Australia riding the success of a record-breaking year that has included 1455 runs and six hundreds, two of them doubles.

But the 30-year-old is as aware as anyone of his record in Australia, which remains the only country where he's played more than three Tests but is yet to score a century.

With an average of just 38 from 17 Test innings in Australia, Root conceded a desire to succeed in the pinnacle series for an England batter has previously weighed him down and contributed to his poor returns.

But he's confident that his sixth Ashes campaign, which will come against largely the same attack that he faced four years ago and again in 2019, will be different.

"I probably wanted it too much," he said of previous tours. "I was too desperate, and it had probably a negative impact on the way I played. I put too much pressure on myself.

"I think one of the things that has really helped me this year is stripping a little of that back, really going and enjoying my cricket, and my batting, and I have a bit more clarity and understanding of my own game.

"One thing I have got coming into this series is a lot more evidence and information on those conditions than the last two tours. That will stand me in good stead as well. And making sure we are fully prepared for what we are coming up against.

"Australia's attack has been very similar for a long period of time now, there's a lot of information and knowledge that we can prepare ourselves for ahead of the series if we put that work and practice in, and making sure that we are ready to face and counter whatever's thrown at us."

Vodafone Men's Ashes v England

First Test: December 8-12, The Gabba

Second Test: December 16-20, Adelaide Oval

Third Test: December 26-30, MCG

Fourth Test: January 5-9, SCG

Fifth Test: January 14-18, Perth Stadium