For Joe Root, the second-highest run-getter in Tests, Australia remains an unconquered territory. In 14 Tests, he has yet to win a game; he has yet to register a three-figure score. But the former England captain is unbothered by the past or the comments of former Australian greats who have scavenged on his torrid numbers in Australia. “At the end of the day this tour is not about me,” said Root at a press conference in Leeds. “They are going to say what they want to say anyway, so why bother worrying about it? It doesn’t make a huge amount of difference. When we look back in five years’ time no-one is going to remember what Matthew Hayden said to me, or Greg Blewett, or Mark Waugh, whoever it is. They are going to look back on the scoreline and think that it’s a historic England win or not. If I am scoring runs and scoring heavily it gives us a great opportunity to win a series out in Australia and that is the main focus," he added. Former opener David Warner began the verbal volleying by highlighting Root’s failure to score a hundred in Australia, suggesting that Test cricket’s second-highest run-scorer tends to get out lbw a lot. "Josh Hazlewood tends to have his number quite a lot. He will have to take the surfboard off his front leg,” said Warner. He said his lone focus is to reclaim the urn, which Australia has kept in possession from 2017. "It does feel like a long time and it’d be nice to put that right and bring the urn home. I just see it as a great opportunity for the group. There’s no other way to look at it, really. It’s a beautiful country, it’s a great place to go and play cricket. Just soak it all in and expect a little bit of ‘abuse’ or ‘banter’. It could be six weeks that live long in the memory if we get it right.” He hyped England's battery of 90mph bowlers. "We’re going to be able to hit them with something quite different in terms of our bowling attack, and the opportunity to potentially play three or four who bowl 90mph-plus for a sustained period of time, which we haven’t had on the three previous tours there. It’s not like we are going there with the same formula expecting different results," he said. He also allayed fears of captain Ben Stokes' fitness. “He’ll be ready. You look at him when he’s been running around at different county grounds and you see he’s making sure he’s absolutely ready. I’ve never seen him making sure he’s done absolutely everything he can to be as fit as he can possibly be, as mentally ready, as hungry as he is. He spent six months getting himself back and doing absolutely everything to be in peak condition this summer. He threw everything into it, physically and emotionally, and he’ll make sure he does exactly the same for this winter. That is for sure," he said. “As a player alone, I think it’s going to be huge that he’s out there, fit and he’s firing, but more so as a leader. To have someone that is willing to push themselves to those lengths is clearly a huge strength of his and a big part of his leadership.
