Joe Root tasks England with sending Australia into a spin with opening Ashes victory at the Gabba

England captain Joe Root
Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images
Tom Collomosse22 November 2017

Joe Root believes England will send Australia into a tailspin if the tourists deliver an unlikely victory at their Gabba stronghold.

Australia have not lost a Brisbane Test since 1988, while England have not won here since 1986 - when they went on to take the Ashes.

Even though they failed to win here in 2010-11, England’s last successful campaign Down Under, Andrew Strauss’s team escaped with a draw, before securing big wins at Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.

Australia expect to win at The Gabba to set themselves up for the series, leaving Root confident that the home side might struggle to recover if England leave Queensland 1-0 up.

“If we could go 1-0 up here, what a way it would be to start the series,” said the England captain. “It would really upset the applecart and give us a lot of momentum going into the rest of the series.

“Australia usually play the first Test of a series here because they have such a good record at the ground but we’re due a win here, aren’t we?

“Of course, we are aware of the history, but every series is different. We can’t play this game on what has happened in the past.

“We’ve got to make sure we read situations quickly out in the middle, play the surface and control our emotions. If we do that, we will give ourselves a really good chance.”

As expected, Jake Ball has been given the nod over Craig Overton for the final place in the seam attack, with England due to confirm the batting order only at the toss.

Photo: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

In the absence of Ben Stokes, Root and coach Trevor Bayliss must decide whether to use Moeen Ali or Jonny Bairstow at No6.

Bairstow is more effective at batting with the tail, meaning the wicketkeeper may remain at No7 with Moeen jumping two places.

Root and his players have tried to keep their heads down in the face of classic pre-Ashes barbs from Australia, with off-spinner Nathan Lyon even suggesting that the home side would try to end the careers of some England players by repeating the 5-0 whitewash of 2013-14.

Root can rarely be tempted to step off the fence when speaking publicly but his displeasure at Lyon’s words was clear today. He said: “That’s not how I’d want my players to go about things but if he wants to come out and say that, it’s up to him.

“It’s slightly out of character. I know Nathan from playing club cricket in Prospect [a suburb of Adelaide]. It doesn’t seem very real.

“Would I get stuck into him verbally out in the middle? I’m not sure that’s my style. You try to go about things in your own way. Every player is slightly different and will have his own way of dealing with stuff but I will leave the talking to others.

“But we need to do what suits us best as a team, so if a player feels he needs to have a word, I am all for him doing whatever makes him feel comfortable out in the middle.”

Australia captain Steve Smith tried to play down Lyon’s outburst as another example of the pre-Ashes verbal battle which has characterised these contests for many years.

Even so, Australia seem to have pushed the boat out this time. David Warner has also spoken about creating a “war” with England and trying to generate “hatred” for them.

“I don’t know where it came from but it is all part of the pre-Ashes banter,” said Smith. “We have to ensure we perform well on the field and we’re going to play good, hard, aggressive cricket.”

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