ROOT'S BACK TO THE FUTURE

Aussies warned they will see the return of Joe from 2015 Ashes now he's lost burden of the captaincy

- DEAN WILSON

AUSTRALIA have been warned that Joe Root is ready to invoke the spirit of 2015 - when they saw the best of him.

That was the last time Root played in an Ashes series without the stresses of captaincy weighing him down and what a difference it made.

Nearly 500 runs in the series with two hundreds gave him the Compton-Miller Medal to take home as the outstanding player on either side and was only to be expected from a batter on the cusp of greatness.

Root kissed his England helmet in celebration (above) after treating the Cardiff crowd to one of his tons. But in the subsequent three Ashes series, Root could not win as skipper,

Nor could he produce the match-defining innings that his talent delivers so often.