Root ready for Ashes challenge

Joe Root has vowed he will be ready as England captain for the challenge of this winter's Ashes after being "caught cold" in the last series in Australia.

The Yorkshire batsman, who took over as captain after Alastair Cook's resignation last month, was dropped for the final Test during the miserable 5-0 whitewash defeat in 2013/14.

He admitted the series Down Under felt as if he had walked straight into a "conservatory door", after the string of defeats which led to Kevin Pietersen being sacked and Andy Flower resigning as coach.

Root averaged under 28 in the series, compared with his current career mark of 52.80, which saw him dropped from the team for the defeat by 281 runs in Sydney. However, the new skipper insists it will be different when England face their arch rivals in November.

"I won't be caught cold," Root said. "I know what to expect from what can be quite a hostile environment.

"That first Test match, when I walked out to bat, I think it did hit me quite hard.

"It was like I walked into a conservatory door, not aware at all that it was there ... but I will be slightly more aware."

And Root believes he is still benefiting from the harsh experience of his maiden Ashes trip which saw England's batsmen struggle to deal with the pace of Mitchell Johnson, who took 37 wickets in the series.

"I think I've done all my learning from that tour already," Root added. "For large periods of that trip, I was spending so much time and energy working on things that other people said I needed to work on - 'getting forward, bigger stride, into the ball'.

"In reality, they were bowling 95mph bouncers - so it was pointless.

"I came back from it and thought 'just strengthen all the things that have served you very well for long periods of time, and slowly but surely work on the rest of it'.

"From that I gained a lot of confidence - and that was a really good way, from being in quite a difficult spot, of getting out of it and feeling good again."

England will battle it out the Champions Trophy in June followed by home series against South Africa and the West Indies, which are live on Sky Sports, before the Ashes.

 

 

Author: 
www.skysports.com