England Need Root Back Firing On All Cylinders

Peter Hayter highlights the importance of having an in-form and confident Joe Root leading out England if they are to re-claim the Ashes this summer

- Peter Hayter

Joe Root has never made any secret of the fact that, on occasion, his admiration for his fellow ‘Yorkie’ Michael Vaughan has crossed the line into the realms of anorakery. Root freely admits to growing up copying the batting style of the former England captain, though, when discussing this, he does contend somewhat impertinently that “towards the end of his career his technique was slightly flawed”.

The 28-year-old Yorkshireman says his dream was to “follow him across every single brick of a career path that had begun at Abbeydale Park (home of their club Sheffield Collegiate) and reached a podium at the Oval at its zenith.”

The last time Australia were here, in 2015, he went so far as to carry in his kitbag the sweaty old thigh-pad worn by his predecessor a decade earlier when Vaughan was skippering England to their brilliant 2005 Ashes success, and it seemed to do the trick as Root finished man of the series in his side’s 3-2 win.

The first chance Root had to complete that specific journey of emulation, by beating Australia as captain, ended in a dreary 4-0 defeat Down Under 18 months ago.

But as the players prepare to gather for the first Test of the 2019 rematch at Edgbaston, it is getting harder to avoid the feeling that if he and England pull it off this time, Root will have surpassed anything achieved by his idol and “massive inspiration”.