(Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
By Peter Hayter
Just because you are in a vast minority, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re wrong. But the longer Joe Root continues to believe he should stay at No.4 for England in the fast approaching Ashes, the more his thinking looks like stubbornness bordering on the plain obtuse.
In a straw-poll experiment conducted under strict laboratory conditions at the PCA Awards dinner a fortnight ago, several England cricketers past, and some recently present, all with Ashes experience both away and home, were canvassed as to the matter of where the England skipper should bat against Australia this winter.
I won’t embarrass them by naming names, but not a single voice among them was raised in favour of Root sticking where he is, whether or not Ben Stokes is available to bat at No.6.
The detail in the answers differed but the thrust of the argument did not.
Root is, by some distance, the best batsman in the side and the best batsman in the side should bat at No.3. Indeed, the best batsman in this particular side must bat at No.3.
Those who disagree do so on grounds that appear reasonable, pragmatic even, but they are based on a mindset seemingly programmed in advance to accept the inevitability of failure and defeat.
England’s top-order batting is wafer-thin fragile.
Mark Stoneman is untried in Ashes cricket and still finding out how to bat at this level against anyone.
Of the other batsmen travelling on October 28, James Vince, Dawid Malan and Gary Ballance are all better suited to shot-making than block, grind and collect.
Thus, as against Australia’s high-class pace attack in their conditions, any contributions from them are pretty much going to be bonus runs, it doesn’t really matter where they bat so one of them may as well bat three as anywhere else.
And the benefit of that is that, even though England are likely to be two down for not many on most occasions, as long as Root is not one of them that would allow him to rebuild the innings as and when they are.
On the other hand, the Aussies, who always give the captain heaps, will hit Root with everything they’ve got and if he goes in at No.3 and gets out cheaply, man the lifeboats.
Ye gods.
It is not only those on the outside who insist that, for England to stand any chance of burying the grim memories of the 5-0 hammering they were handed last time round, Root needs to kick such thinking way into touch.
Within the management group, England coach Trevor Bayliss has been proposing Root’s elevation almost from the moment he came into the job, and certainly loud and clear in public as far back as the end of the Test series in South Africa in January 2016.
And he would not have been speaking only for himself within the management group when he re-iterated his position at the end of this summer.
“I would always have him (Root) at three,” he said. “Joe is comfortable batting at four … [but] I think he will end up at three at some stage in the future. He is by far our best player, and personally I believe that is where your best player should be.”
Interesting choice of word, comfortable.
Comfortable like a sofa, perhaps, or a cardigan, or a nice warm pair of slippers and a bellyful of Sunday lunch, followed by a real fire and a snooze in front of the telly.
Comfortable; you can almost hear the Australians chuckling now.
Anyone who has experienced Ashes cricket and, more specifically, Ashes cricket in Australia, will be struggling to recall the last time they used that particular word to describe it.
Except on very rare occasions, visceral, raw, unrelenting, and unforgiving. Occasionally, even harrowing.
But if it’s comfort he wants, Root had better steer well clear of this kitchen and, deep down, he knows it.
As if anyone needs reminding, just think back to how comfortable England were made to feel on their previous visit; from Stuart Broad being pilloried as a “cheat”, to England’s current captain walking to the crease in the first Test in Brisbane to make his Ashes debut through rolling choruses of “Root is a w**ker”, to Jonathan Trott being labelled “pretty weak” and “pretty scared” by David Warner during the first Test in Brisbane, to James Anderson being advised by Aussie skipper Michael Clarke to “get ready for a broken f***ing arm” on its final day.
Nor were certain members of Her Majesty’s Press spared either.
On the morning of day two, concerned that stiffness in my calf might be a DVT caused by my recent long-haul flight, I was advised to go to a local clinic.
When, after a couple of hours of tests, the problem was diagnosed as mild cramp, I asked a passer-by for directions back to the ’Gabba, he first told me: “Second left, mate, first right.”
Then, in order to bring me bang up to date with events at the cricket (in response to Australia’s 295, England had slumped from 82-2 to 91-8), he sent me on my way with a cheery wave and the words “and by the way, you’re f***ed”.
Comfortable? No.
The sooner Root and the rest of the England squad steel themselves to be as uncomfortable as they might have to be, the better for all concerned. And that process should begin with any of Bayliss, or his No.2 Paul Farbrace or national selector James Whitaker, or director of England cricket Andrew Strauss, or all of them, letting him know where he should bat rather than asking him where he would be most comfortable doing so.
Some will maintain that with captaincy on his shoulders and so much to think about outside of his own game, Root should be allowed to make his own call. Others will say he has simply earned the right to do so.
But there really is only thing that should be occupying Root’s full attention until the end of the series in January; taking on the responsibility of spending as much time at the crease as he can, first blunting the Aussie attack, then scoring as many runs off them as his side will need him to do.
Just because those who think Root should bat at No.3 in the Ashes are in the vast majority, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are right.
But this England team does need to show Australia they are as much about valour as discretion and that means Root taking them on, not recklessly, but with intent and focus, not biding his time in the dressing room until it’s safer to come out.
