Joe Root: IPL was better Ashes preparation than County Championship

Joe Root believes playing the IPL has prepared him for the Ashes better than county championship cricket for Yorkshire.

Root’s 56 at Lord’s against Ireland was his one and only innings in first-class cricket between the end of the Test series against New Zealand in February and the start of the Ashes on June 16.

He opted to spend nearly two months at the IPL with Rajasthan Royals — playing just three matches and batting only once — rather than appearing in up to five championship games for Yorkshire, who without Root are stuck at the bottom of Division Two.

It was the first time Root had experienced the IPL and he did not do it for the money — landing a contract of just £100,000, far below the sums paid to England colleagues Harry Brook, Sam Curran and Ben Stokes.

Instead he wanted to expand his Twenty20 game, hoping to force his way back in the England team or open up late-career franchise opportunities. It was choosing to do it in Ashes summer that spiked concerns about him being underprepared.

He batted at one of the harder stages of the Ireland Test when a changed ball swung more than the old one, but looked comfortable once he had faced 15 balls. He passed 11,000 Test runs at Lord’s and it will not be long before he overhauls Alastair Cook’s record England tally of 12,472.

Root batted against the red ball in the nets while in India, working with the Rajasthan head coach Kumar Sangakkara. Data collected by England has shown that only nine per cent of deliveries from seamers in the championship so far this season have been bowled above 83mph, proving Root’s point about preparation for facing Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.

In the 2019 Ashes in England only 19 per cent of balls were bowled at below 82mph and over 20 per cent were over 88mph (slightly higher than the general Test average of 17 per cent). Generally there are almost no deliveries above 88mph in the championship.

“For me playing a handful of Championship games… Championship cricket is the bedrock of our domestic game and I am not trying to bag it with what I say here. I am not saying it’s not important or a good standard,” said Root. “For where I am in my career, am I going to learn more about myself in that environment? Am I really going to be prepared better for an Ashes series facing lower pace bowling on some nibbly wickets, when hopefully we will play on good pitches against high pace and a high quality spinner. I don’t think so.

“By going there, learning and experiencing something new, talking and discussing the game with some of the greats, like Kumar Sangakkara and Brian Lara, other players and ex-players, about just batting in general, Test cricket. I thought that not just for the Ashes, but the rest of the year, for me would set me up best to perform well and get the best out of myself. I feel ready, I have another week’s prep and some time together as a squad.

“You can have the best prep in the world, where I’ve got hundreds in warm up games, and then you go into the game and get a good ball early and you are on the back foot. Other times you have nothing, it can work both ways. That is why the mental side of the game is really important. I can call upon experience. I have had good Ashes series and bad ones before.”

The current England regime has a soft attitude to franchise cricket and Stokes described time in the middle in red ball cricket as “old school” thinking on Saturday after the 10 wicket win over Ireland, in which he and Jonny Bairstow did not bat. The team has a week off now, before most go to Scotland for a golfing weekend. They resume cricket preparation next Monday in Birmingham.

Ireland’s bowling was so weak — it is hard to think of a thinner opposition attack in England in recent years — that is impossible to draw any conclusions about the batting from the Lord’s Test, but the way they play was set in stone long before that match started. The work began a year ago, as soon as Stokes and Brendon McCullum were appointed. It is now down to the experienced players such as Root to help those playing their first Ashes to prepare mentally.

“Most importantly is not to over-egg it,” is Root’s advice. “There will be a lot more attention, there will be a lot more noise, there will be a lot more hype around it. There will be people that might not normally be interested in cricket very interested in cricket for five or six weeks. It’s the same game. As soon as the bowler lets go of it, it’s you against the ball. Just go and play as you’ve been playing for the last 12 months. And when it goes well, enjoy everything that comes with it. If you’re successful in Ashes cricket it can set you up for life really, not just the rest of your career but beyond it.”

No pressure then.