Root unbothered about facing pink-ball master exponent Starc in Brisbane despite a rather poor head-to-head record.
Root unperturbed by ‘challenge’ of facing pink-ball master Starc.
A few new “dog-throwers” were part of England’s first training session at the Gabba on Sunday in preparation for the second Ashes Test.
Net bowlers and coaches were working overtime while the Lions participated in the Prime Ministers’ XI match in Canberra with Josh Tongue and Matthew Potts, and the bowlers rested following Saturday’s practice at Allan Border Field, when only Ben Stokes sent deliveries down. As were two fresh faces in England stockpile.
They were draughted in from the Sunshine Coast by bowling coach David Saker as reinforcements. And the presence of a left-hander there was no accident.
After Mitchell Starc blazed through England in the first Test at Perth to put Australia 1-0 up, the extra attention was a no-brainer. Starc finished the game with ten, and the visitors were unable to respond to his genius. They will need to locate some ahead of the day-night Test, because no one does it better than the 35-year-old in this peculiar off-shoot of the longest format.
No bowler has anywhere near as many as Starc’s 81 pink-ball wickets at 17.08, nor his experience of 14 Tests with various iterations of the lighter Kookaburra. He is a class apart when the sun sets. And with half of each day’s play scheduled to take place under lights, there is unlikely to be a moment not suitedtohisgame.
In an attempt to practise a technique against a well-known opponent, one of England’s best problem solvers, Joe Root, hogged a left-handed thrower during the afternoon session.
After playing each other 23 times—both red and pink—Starc holds a tiny advantage in their ongoing conflict.Test cricket’s second-most productive run-scorer averages 34.9 against Starc, who has dismissed Root 10 times in Tests, including twice last week.
“I think the first innings, to be honest, it was a pretty good ball,” Root said of his dismissal for a duck on day one, twisted around and edging to third slip. “Nipped across you from straight in. I wasn’t looking to whip it through square leg or anything like that. It was just one of those things you can get on a lively wicket. In England that probably doesn’t carry, it drops short with soft hands. It’s just one of the things you have to wear.”
In the second innings, Root felt he started well “being quite busy and proactive” before edging a drive onto his stumps for 8 from 11 deliveries. The third batter dismissed in a run-less six balls that turned the Test on its head. “I just made a slight error of judgement and it costs you. You could play and miss at that, or it goes between stumps and keeper and goes for four, and you never think about it again.”