Fed up England skipper Joe Root wants to get back to the cricket after being badly let down by his team-mates
England's Ashes disaster took another turn for the worst after Ben Duckett poured a pint over James Anderson
FED UP, frustrated, disappointed — the doom-laden words trip off Joe Root’s tongue. And who can blame him?
England’s new captain, just nine Tests into his job, has been badly let down in recent weeks by some of his friends and team-mates.
The off-field antics are threatening to overshadow Root’s first tour in charge and he is desperate to switch the attention from bars to bats and balls.
Somehow, Root must inspire his team to an epic performance in the Third Test, starting tomorrow. A defeat would mean the loss of The Ashes is added to the boozing controversies in a double dose of misery.
Root said: “I’m fed up talking about stuff that’s not cricket.
“We have to make sure we perform well this week and win. Get people talking about the cricket.
“This is a very professional group of players that goes about things in the right way. But we’ve had two incidents that have been blown up and made a big deal of. They could have been avoided.
“That’s the annoying thing. As you know, but a lot of people back home probably don’t, the stories are not a fair reflection of this team. But a lot of the stuff that’s being spouted is giving ammunition.
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“You all see how hard we work in practice. You see how we go about our business and the extra stuff we do.
“It’s frustrating. We have to be smarter as a group.
“Those guys have to learn very quickly and, as a team, we have to make sure it is completely out of our minds.”
The perception 10,000 miles away back in the UK is that cricket is an unwelcome inconvenience between drinking sessions.
That is false and this team does work hard. Trouble is, any indiscretion is magnified in the wake of the Ben Stokes scandal.
So Jonny Bairstow’s bizarre headbutt amounted to little and did not come to light for four weeks.
But it prompted team supremo Andrew Strauss to impose a midnight curfew.
Ben Duckett throwing drink over James Anderson was more serious because players had been specifically warned to behave when the curfew was lifted for a night.
Duckett was fined £1,500 and given a final warning.
England deny suggestions other players were lobbing booze that night and Duckett mentioned no other names when he was interviewed by team management. England say the matter is closed.
Most England captains are judged by Ashes tours and this might be Root’s only mission at the helm Down Under. He could scarcely have imagined it would be this tough.
He said: “I knew it would be challenging and there would be stuff outside the cricket but not to this extent. You have to take it in your stride and learn from it — I’ve learned a lot.
“I want to be concentrating on making sure we get things right on the field. That’s my job as captain.
“I’m trying to develop a team that over a long period can achieve success and do special things.
“One of this group’s big strengths is we do look after each other.
“That proves we are good human beings and I’m proud of that.
“The lads have done some stupid stuff but we care about each other. We’re in it together and we are only going to get back into this series if we stick together.
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“I understand a few supporters feel let down. We have to make sure we get things right on the field so people talk about us in the right way.”
ENGLAND: Cook, Stoneman, Vince, Root (capt), Malan, Bairstow (wkt), Moeen, Woakes, Overton, Broad, Anderson.
AUSTRALIA (likely): Warner, Bancroft, Khawaja, Smith (capt), S.Marsh, M.Marsh, Paine (wkt), Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood, Lyon.