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Joe Root riled by Australia's pre-match handshake plan for Ashes opener
Joe Root has been left frustrated at discovering pre-match player handshakes are listed among the events before the Ashes opener on Thursday despite not being consulted.
Tim Paine, the Australia captain, has looked to bring in the football‑inspired goodwill ritual at the start of every Test series his side play as a way of rebuilding their image after the ball‑tampering scandal in South Africa last year. But Root and Trevor Bayliss, the England captain and head coach respectively, are understood to have been surprised during a meeting on Wednesday with Ranjan Madugalle, the International Cricket Council match referee, when they saw it on the running order agreed by the two countries without being asked formally.
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Eoin Morgan, England’s one-day captain, agreed to the same request from Paine before the one-day international series last summer and there was perhaps an assumption, either by Cricket Australia or by the ICC, that the same would apply once more. Root, while not looking to stoke up ill-feeling between the teams, is said to be less than convinced of the necessity for what is essentially a PR move, not least since it does not take place before any other Test series. It now remains to be seen whether the England captain reluctantly complies and the handshakes take place before play.
Asked how he expected Australia’s players to behave this series, Root replied: “We’ll see how that unfolds in the course of the series. To be honest, their behaviour doesn’t really concern me. The thing that concerns me is that we go about things in our own way. It’s really important we look after that and don’t get too wrapped up in how they play their cricket.”
On a personal level Root is being driven by the memories of ending England’s 4-0 defeat in Australia 18 months ago stricken on a sickbed as he looks to fulfil a boyhood dream of becoming an Ashes-winning captain.
At a ground that Paine claimed would not make his top 15 most intimidating in the world Root named an XI denying Jofra Archer his debut with Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes preferred.
As well as explaining his own move to No 3 as a way of spreading experience in the batting order, Root recalled the feeling of losing his only previous Ashes series as captain. It was a tough ending for him when struck down by gastroenteritis in Sydney and forced to retire ill on 58.
Related: Fuss over Joe Root’s move to No 3 is just another part of Ashes mythology | Barney Ronay
Root, who was so poorly he missed Australia’s players celebrating, said: “I felt gutted and raw at the end of it. I never want to be there and lose a big series like the Ashes but it does make you more steely and desperate to go out and turn things round this time.”
Asked what it would mean to lead an England side to an Ashes win, having previously tasted it as a player in 2015, he replied: “I dreamed about it from being a little boy and obviously it became more real by being put in a position to have that opportunity.”
A big difference from 18 months ago is the presence of Ben Stokes, who missed that series during the fallout from the Bristol incident but has since returned to the Test side and, following his heroics in the World Cup final, been restored as vice-captain.
Root revealed he had been making the request for Stokes as his No 2 for some time and said: “He has the full respect of everyone because of how he approaches training and every big moment. You know he is going to throw himself into it and he’s never going to ask something from you that he wouldn’t expect from himself.
“It’s great to have him as vice‑captain again – it’s an opportunity for him to come to the fore. As you’ve seen throughout the World Cup, when he’s been given added responsibility, he’s stepped up to it and I expect the same in this series.”
Related: Old enemies ready for battle but Ashes series is much too close to call | Vic Marks
Archer’s omission will disappoint those wowed by his World Cup performances but England feared he was not yet ready for the physical exertions of Test cricket following the side issue that required painkilling injections during that victorious campaign.
With Sussex playing only Twenty20 cricket before the Lord’s Test on 14 August, Archer may have to build up his bowling workloads in the nets unless England can arrange a loan deal for the Worcestershire match against Australia that sits in between.
Such a move is not unprecedented – Andrew Strauss played for Somerset on loan from Middlesex before the 2011 series with India – but England may wish to deny Australia’s batsmen the chance to face Archer early.
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