Looking deeper, Root’s problems in Australia have come almost exclusively against pace bowling.
He averages 74.33 against spinners down under, even with his Ashes career coinciding with a modern great in Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
More specifically, Root’s issues have come while facing full or good-length deliveries from pacers, against which his average drops to 26.9 and 26.2 respectively.
When the ball is short, even with the pacey surfaces, that average climbs to 63.
The difference is stark.
The Ashes phony war began in the summer when David Warner described Root’s front pad as a “surfboard”, suggesting he is an lbw candidate.
While it is true Australia targeted Root’s pads at the start of the 2017-18 series and dismissed him in that manner twice, eight of Root’s 10 dismissals in the last series down under were from deliveries that would have missed the stumps.
Even in England in 2023, five of Root’s six dismissals to Australian pacemen would not have threatened the timbers.
Australian plans have changed – or, at the least, Australia are using that inswinger to the pads more sparingly.
Of those 10 dismissals in 2021-22, seven were from balls pitching 6-8m from the stumps – what is regarded as a ‘good’ length – and nine seamed away.
It resulted in eight catches between wicketkeeper and gully – four of which were Root attempting to steer to third man off either the front or back foot.
“They say in Australia horizontal bat shots are the way to go because if it bounces it will fly over the top,” Vaughan says.
“Those straight-batted shots in Australia, back-foot punches, are OK after 30 or 40 overs when the Kookaburra is a bit softer and it is not zipping off the surface, but in the first 10 or 15 overs when you start playing these straight-batted shots there is a chance it bounces more than you expect.”
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