Joe Root insists he will “bang out” a hundred in this series and there would be no better time for his struggling England team than in front of a 70,000 Boxing Day crowd at the MCG.
England must “win” the first day of the third Test to prevent the series becoming a victory march for Australia, who can retain the Ashes in Melbourne.
Boxing Day will reveal a lot about this England side. A tense and angry – the official description is “honest discussions” – team meeting was held in the dressing room in Adelaide after the 275-run defeat in the second Test and how they react here will determine whether it was all just hot air or the message got through.
Batsmen were told they have to be better judgement outside off-stump, and not chasing balls on the fourth or fifth stump line, and bowlers to bowl fuller to stop Australians leaving them on length. It is hardly revelatory stuff but it was the forcefulness of Chris Silverwood and Root, both normally quietly spoken and affable individuals, that surprised those present.
Robust discussions after heavy defeats are to be expected but England have been talking up the meeting as a turning point. How they bat or bowl on Boxing Day will determine whether that is right and they can end a run of eight defeats in 11 Tests. In Australia the run is worse, 11 losses in 12, most by a country mile.
“I expect a response from everyone this week,” said Root. “The scoreline would suggest they’re absolutely a far better team than us and I don’t think they are. If we perform anywhere like we can do, we’ll out them in an uncomfortable position. We’ll push back and we’ll find ourselves in a very different situation leaving this ground.
“There was a lot of frustration (in Adelaide). Purely because of the basic mistakes that we’ve been making. And we’ve done it twice in a row. And, as I said to the group, I don’t think they’re that much better than us in these conditions.”
Root has made 89 and 62 in this series without going on and twice his dismissal has sparked collapses that cost England in Brisbane and Adelaide. He has scored eight fifties in Australia in 11 Tests since 2013 without a century, and lifting that curse would raise the mood of his battered team.
