Just an average Joe, Root

"Man for man I'd have this team every day over the Australians."

Would you now, Joe Root? 

Man for man, England were in no contest for a rampant Australia. You can measure them with your own metric, and chances are that you wouldn’t side with Root. 

Maybe after this clash, chances are that the Yorkshire man might not pick himself in the setup. It is mind-boggling to imagine a world-class Test batter struggling this heavily in a format that he once aced. 

If you think about it, his game is quintessentially made for a 50-over format. Knocking the ones and then converting them into twos. Finding the boundaries with will, conquering the battle against spin in the middle-over phase, there’s every ingredient for a perfect ODI batter in Root. 

Except, none of it has clicked it year.

It is not like the 32-year-old never had a phase like this; in fact, back in 2013, he had a string of poor displays. 

7, 3, 12, 0, 21, 3 and 2 were the scores back then. But over the years, Root had worked out his flaws, hustling day in and out. Eventually, that ability to manoeuvre the field in the middle overs became one of the hallmarks of his abilities in the 50-over format.

It is a phase where the right-hander often goes about his business without much noise. 

At the 2019 ODI World Cup in the United Kingdom, it became increasingly obvious as to how Root was the glue that held this country (on and off the pitch) together. In that tournament, only twice was Root out for a single-digit score. 

One was the eight he scored against Australia, and the other was the seven he scored against New Zealand in the final. In every other clash, his significant contributions had a direct impact on the outcome of the clash, with Root contributing 17.4% to England’s totals back then. 

Root scored 556 runs in the tournament, averaging a staggering 61.77, the top run-scorer for his team in that edition.

His impact, though, was much more, considering how he was the glue around a lot of aggressive heads at the top of the order and in the middle of the batting order. Root was like that perfect foil that the Three Lions could fall back. 

In the six-year phase from his debut till the end of the 2019 ODI World Cup - the 32-year-old was only dismissed 25 times in the first ten deliveries, over 6702 deliveries that he faced during that time. He averaged a staggering 51.37 - the best for any English batter (min 50 innings) - since his debut, often batting time, helping the Three Lions, reflected in the 21 not-outs that he had during the time.

But that’s where he has been left hurting in recent times. 

*****

“There’s no magic pill that you can swallow overnight to improve performances,” Root said in the aftermath of England’s struggle at the ODI World Cup. 

These comments came on October 23 (Monday), two days after Root was dismissed for another single digit in the year. At this point, Root would happily take a magic pill. But what's concerning is there is definitely a pattern to the dismissals that aren’t quite helping his team. 

By the time Root walked down to take guard against India on October 29 (Sunday), his powerplay struggle had already become a pressing issue in the English camp. Despite having an opportunity to turn things around, all Root did was move a few inches to his right, exposing himself in front of the wicket. 

When he walked back to the dressing room that night, his average in the powerplay went to 4.67 in the powerplay, the worst for any batter in that phase this year (min 5 innings). The image of Root’s head falling down as he walked back to the pavilion was nothing short of an accurate representation of England’s campaign. 

There was a more evident pattern: 60% of his dismissals were either LBW or bowled. Bowlers have hardly given the right-hander a lot of room outside the off-stump to drive away from the pressure. 

As a result, Root has scored just three boundaries in that phase since the start of 2023 in the first ten balls at the crease. In fact, out of the 20 dismissals post the 2019 ODI World Cup, the English batter has been dismissed nine times (45%) in the first ten balls, out of which five have come this year alone. 

"It's been really frustrating: I've had a silly run-out [against Sri Lanka], a caught leg slip [against South Africa], which is pretty unusual in this format and - I'll be careful how I say this - a dubious lbw decision in the last game [against India],” Root also pointed out at his own dismissals.

Now, let’s look at the last line. Caught at leg slip, which is pretty unusual? It might be, but not enough to call the situation unlucky. Be it the dismissal against South Africa or against India or his dismissal on Saturday (November 5) against Australia. 

It was a well-laid-out plan. Against India, the right-hander shuffled and moved a long way to expose his middle stump, which is exactly what Jasprit Bumrah did. In the Australia clash, after targeting his stumps early, Mitchell Starc’s obvious ploy was to move the ball away as he eventually did. 

And, in return, it has taken away the biggest stage for Root to flex his arms - middle-overs. 

Whenever Root has gone on to survive the powerplay phase, he has been nothing short of god-like in this tournament. Across 138 deliveries in the middle-over phase, Root has not yet been dismissed, with a strike-rate of 108.7. 

Amongst all the batters (min 100 balls) in the middle-over phase, the Yorkshire batter has only played 40 dots, the lowest dot-ball percentage in the competition, at 28.9%. 

That’s what separates Root from the rest of the pack. 

Root has survived the powerplay phase in ONLY TWO clashes - New Zealand and Bangladesh - and the batting unit around him had relative success in both these games. Four of England’s batters have an average of over 30 in those clashes, including Dawid Malan, who hit a century in Dharamsala against Bangladesh. 

Even the two struggling batters - Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler - average 42.5 and 31.5, respectively, in those clashes. It is evident that what made England a formidable unit - Root’s ability to absorb pressure at the crease - has gone missing. 

"You are only as good as your last performance".

Joe has been uprooted early, and so has England’s batting unit.