Joe Root opens up on how he plans to finally produce the goods in Ashes series Down Under - as he searches for first century in Australia

Joe Root says he is relying on mental rather than technical tweaks in trying to break his Ashes hundred hoodoo this winter.

The one suboptimal statistic in an otherwise impeccable Test career for arguably England’s finest ever batsman is his average down under: 35, the age he turns this Christmas. In 27 innings, he is yet to reach three figures.

Forecasting ahead of the five-match series, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting this week reckoned the primary hurdle for Root to overcome was in the mind, and the man himself was inclined to agree ahead of the three-match, one-day series here in New Zealand.

‘How I prepare now is different to how I would have done 10 years ago. I’m a lot more mentally focused. I’ve clearly played against a lot of their guys now, know how they operate, know what they're likely to try to bring to the series,’ Root said.

'I used to be very technical. I’d want to make sure that everything felt lined up and my feet were in the right place, my head position was correct, whereas now I'm a little bit more concerned about how I'm looking at the game, how I'm going to approach different situations, whether that be the surface, whether that be different bowler types, different angles, when they come wide of the crease.’

Next month’s Ashes tour will be Root's fourth and the previous three have thrown up significant challenges: he was dropped for the one and only time in his Test career on his maiden venture in 2013-14, ended the following one on a drip suffering from gastroenteritis and most recently oversaw a series of such drastic Covid restrictions that England’s players felt incarcerated.

‘I look at it at this time and I’m in a completely different stage of my career. I’m no longer captain, I’m playing some really good cricket, and so are we,’ he continued.

‘We’ve got a great group of players, we can go there and hit them with different tools to those we’ve had on previous tours, so when you look at it like that it’s a really exciting prospect.

‘Clearly, Australia are really good in their own conditions, with a great record at home, especially against us, but that’s the exciting bit, right? There’s an opportunity to do something a bit different and hopefully achieve something really special.’

On Sunday, Root will be involved in his first action since scoring 100 in the record 342-run win over South Africa in Southampton, having created ‘separation’ from his day job since September 7 by immersing himself in family life - aside from netting in Sheffield’s new indoor Boundary facility immediately before flying out here.

These one-dayers - for which Test colleagues Ben Duckett and Jamie Smith return too - also represent a chance for England to boost their one-day standing. Currently eighth, the threat of heading into the qualifying tournament for the next World Cup still looms with only the top eight discounting hosts South Africa automatically earning spots for the 2027 World Cup.

However, with reward for victories weighted commensurately with an opponents’ ranking, a 3-0 whitewash against the third-placed Black Caps would provide a welcome five-point surge and almost certainly avert such a prospect.

‘I don't think it's arrogant to say that if you look at the quality within our squad, we're not an eighth in the world team. We should be competing and jostling for that top spot,’ Root insisted.