Joe Root’s bowling is more important than ever – and Australia’s line-up play to his strengths

Of all the issues that England expected to be considering before the Ashes, the merits of Joe Root’s bowling ranked low. Yet, because of Jack Leach’s injury, the ongoing uncertainty over Ben Stokes’ fitness and the subsequent debate over the make-up of England’s attack, Root’s bowling has suddenly become rather important.

Steve Smith and Kane Williamson, two of Root’s contemporaries, were both useful bowlers earlier in their Test careers but are now seldom seen with the ball. Root is different. He has maintained his useful auxiliary off-spin throughout his career, and has bowled more overs per Test – an average of nine – under Stokes than he did under Alastair Cook or his own captaincy.

As a bowler, Root has obvious limitations. The best off-spinners find a good line and length one in two deliveries; Root only does so one in every three. The result is that his 54 Test wickets have come at 46.1 apiece.

Yet these numbers obscure Root’s qualities as an off-spinner. With his round-arm action, normally going wide of the crease and round the wicket, Root presents an unusual challenge. While he generates good turn, Root’s greatest attribute is his drift: on average over his Test career, he generates slightly more drift than Nathan Lyon.

Root is a bowler who has shown that his best ball can get good Test batsmen out: Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Rishabh Pant have both fallen to him twice. So has Steve Smith – but only after reaching 200 both times.

Off-spinners are generally far better bowling to left-handers, but Root is unusual for how great his preference is. From averaging 64.9 against right-handers in Tests, he averages 32.1 against left-handers. Paradoxically, this disparity both highlights Root’s limitations as a bowler and, when the circumstances and opposition are right, heightens his worth. Far better to have a part-timer with a relish for one type than one who performed equally modestly against left and right-handers alike.

Root’s off-spin is likely to be most valuable against a team exactly like Australia: they have four left-handers in their top seven in Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Travis Head and Alex Carey. Indeed, while Leach has made improvements against left-handers, Root’s record against southpaws is strikingly better. Over his Test career, Root averages 10 runs fewer than Leach – and concedes only three runs an over against left-handers, compared with Leach’s 3.8.

Root’s bowling has also held up well against Australia. In home Ashes Tests, Root has taken two wickets in the fourth innings of a victory on three occasions – at Lord’s in 2013, Cardiff in 2015 and the last Test at the Oval in 2019. His 17 wickets against Australia have come at a perfectly respectable 41.2 – an average that, were he to take 10 wickets, England would be thrilled with this summer.

And so, in the right conditions, Root is an attractive option to bowl if two left-handers are at the crease and a perfectly reasonable bet when one is in. He dismissed Carey twice, while conceding only 24 runs, in the last Ashes; Carey averages only 19.2 against off-spin in Tests, making him the top-order batsman most-suited to Root.

Head has excelled against the ball turning away from him so far in his Test career, averaging 60.4 against off-spin, and Khawaja averages 49 against off-breaks. But, should he survive the new ball, Warner averages a modest 32.5 against off -pin; in all international cricket, he has been dismissed by Root three times at a cost of 16.3 each.

This summer, Root’s bowling could subtly shape England’s attack in numerous ways. The more overs that Root bowls, the less will be required of Stokes. If his bowling is effective, it will be easier to pick an attack of four specialist seamers – a ploy that is well-suited to England’s preference of bowling first at home.

Even if England do select a spinner, Root’s off-spin will still figure in the side’s thinking. Root contributing would heighten the case for picking a spinner who offers a contrasting threat, turning the ball the other way – such as Liam Dawson – over another off-spinner.

While he is far from being a genuine all-rounder, Root might well have been a little underbowled over his Test career: against left-handers with the old ball, his off-spin would often have been a better option than persisting with right-arm pace.

This Ashes summer, circumstances and Australia’s abundance of left-handers means that his off-spin could be more important than ever before.