Why Joe Root has never hit a ton in Australia: The shot he must put away to end Ashes hoodoo, how Aussie pitches are his Kryptonite... and David Gower predicts when he'll finally break his curse this winter

No sooner had Joe Root landed in Perth than he came face to face with a microphone – and questions about his record Down Under.

If nothing else, it was good practice for the next eight weeks, when Root’s technique in Australia may attract as many column inches as the Ashes themselves. His temperament will be tested, too, with former Aussie Test cricketers lining up to mock him, never mind the fast bowlers who will be threatening his outside edge.

David Warner has already likened his front pad to a ‘surfboard’, wrongly implying Australia’s preferred mode of dismissal will be lbw. 

Former leg-spinner Kerry O’Keeffe reckoned Root has ‘wrists limper than a French handshake’, a dig at his penchant for the glide to third man. More recently, former quick Rodney Hogg lost the plot altogether, insisting: 'Joe Root will be their weakness.’

Root’s crime? To have failed to score a Test hundred in Australia. No matter that his stats there are not bad: nine fifties and an average of nearly 36. No matter that he was England’s second-top run-scorer on the 2017-18 tour, with 378 at 47. No matter that only Sachin Tendulkar has more Test runs than his tally of 13,543.

No. Until Root ticks the last remaining box on his otherwise faultless CV, he will continue to endure brickbats not bouquets from Australia’s pundits and public.   

It’s tempting to ascribe his stats to unfortunate timing. In 2013-14, when he averaged 27, he was barely a year into his Test career, and for the series finale at Sydney was dropped for the first and last time. 

In 2021-22, when he averaged 32, he was in charge for the Covid Ashes – a nightmarish time both on and off the field.

Yet there is no getting away from a technical foible that has not translated well from one cricketing culture to another.

David Gower, who made five Test hundreds in Australia, believes Root’s record there is ‘a mystery’. But he concedes: ‘The only thing that might be a factor is the bounce. He is ridiculously good at letting the ball come to him and dabbing it away square on the off side or behind. And that little dab is probably one of the things that can be an issue on Australia’s bouncier pitches.

‘It just requires a bit of thought. He’s certainly capable of knowing exactly what to do, and he’s got the ability to do it.’

Four years ago, Root fell nine times out of 10 to balls that seamed away, providing eight catches to the wicketkeeper or slips. At least four of those dismissals came when he was trying to fiddle the ball to third man, as he routinely does in England, and Scott Boland alone removed him four times.

Analysis by CricViz confirms his strengths and weaknesses. In Australia, Root averages 74 against spin and 63 against the short ball, but 26 against good or full-length seam bowling.

Being a class act – and Root will begin the Ashes as Test cricket’s highest-ranked batsman – he has had his moments: 89 at Brisbane four years ago, 87 at Adelaide on his first trip, and 83 at Sydney in 2017-18, amid temperatures so punishing he finished the game on a drip. 

But for another 11 runs here, an extra 13 or 17 there, we would not now be looking at the greatest subplot since the redemption of Darth Vader.   

Root insists he is a better player now, and has spent more time focusing on the mental challenge than on ironing out technical kinks. And Dawid Malan, who managed a hundred at Perth eight years ago and had a ringside seat in 2021-22, adding 162 with Root at Brisbane and 138 at Adelaide, believes attitude is the key.

‘I’ve had two tours there with him, and he never looked out of place,’ says Malan. ‘There was never a glaring issue where you’re looking at it going, "Oh gosh, it feels like he’s going to get out here". 

'Maybe he can be slightly more disciplined with that back-foot punch and drive when he runs the ball down to third man. A few years ago, Sachin Tendulkar just put his drive away, and scored a double-hundred in Sydney.

‘But I’m pretty sure Joe would have gone away and looked at how he got out in the last series. Having Baz (Brendon McCullum) and Stokesy and the positive way they want to play, he might be even more aggressive. 

'The best Aussie batters take the game on, and that might suit him as well, whereas in the past maybe he had to go into a shell more because we were losing wickets.’

Root’s mantra during the build-up has been that the series is not about him, which is a perfectly sensible position. But if Australia keep him quiet on what is expected to be a quick pitch at Perth, then bowl at him when the pink ball is swinging during the day/night Test at Brisbane, the spotlight will remain pointed in his direction.  

'If anyone can deal with it, you’d think it would be him,’ says Gower. ‘His record points to the fact that he’s mentally pretty composed. You can’t do all that without having an inner confidence and a method.

‘There’s a comparison with Tendulkar when he was trying to get his 100th hundred, and it became an issue because it took so long to happen. If you were able just to ignore it and carry on and just let it happen, it’d be fantastic. 

'But if he doesn’t get a hundred at Perth, then the question gets passed on to Brisbane, and then maybe to Adelaide, which is going to be probably the best pitch in the series. So it might be third time lucky.’

Root won’t want to wait that long. For Australia, though, it is a storyline they are more than happy to string out – all the way to the fifth Test at Sydney, and preferably beyond.