• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Joe Root Asks England To Be At Their Peak For Pinnacle Ashes In Australia

Joe Root asks England to be at their peak for 'pinnacle' Ashes in Australia

Onecricket

England are set to host New Zealand and India in consecutive Test series spanning from early June to early September but the skipper Joe Root has his eyes set on the most vouched target for an English skipper—The Ashes, scheduled for the end of this year.

Joe Root said that the Test team has made good strides over the last couple of years albeit they were defeated badly in India. Joe Root conceded that England did not ‘sail’ through but also saw improvement even in the face of defeats against India.

He asked his teammates to get at the peak of their prowess when they face Australia in The Ashes series that will be the ‘pinnacle’ of the contest they have faced in the last couple of years.

"We've made good strides over the last couple of years as a Test team. It's not been plain sailing, we've not had it all our own way, but we still improved. I truly believe we are making good strides in the right direction, and now we've got an opportunity to keep improving, keep getting better and peak for Australia, which is the pinnacle for us,” Root told Sky Sports during the County Championship game against Glamorgan.

ECB director of cricket, Ashley Giles had said that England would not force a fasten return of players who were in India for the IPL in the series against New Zealand. He had also said that England would try new talents, a welcome news for fringe players such as Ollie Robbinson and James Bracey. 

However, Root conceded that the new selection committee headed by an all-powerful coach Chris Silverwood will have their task cut out while deciding between handing opportunities to new players and giving sufficient game time to established players before the all-important tour of Australia. 

“It's very difficult at the minute, the circumstances make it very tricky. You've got to factor in so many different things and the welfare of the players is obviously paramount. But this is what you play for, years like this one. You want to pit yourself against the best, you want to be successful against the best, and this is the opportunity to do it,” Root added.

England will face New Zealand in the two-match long Test series starting June 2 at the Lord’s while the series against India will commence on 4 August in Nottingham.

Discover more

Top Stories
news

BCCI scorer helps family of former colleague at Bombay hospital claim Rs 50 lakh insurance

A well-known scorer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and Mumbai Cricket Association named Deepak Joshi successfully went the extra mile to enable the family of a technician who died to Covid-19 last year working as a technician in the X-ray department of Bombay hospital. The technician named Dhananjay was a healthcare worker who succumbed in the line of duty and his family was due for a gratuitous amount under the government’s insurance package for the healthcare workers. He had died in May last year and his wife has revived a sum of Rs 50 lakh in her account, as per a TOI report. Detailing his course of action, Joshi said that he had worked with Dhananjay for four years in the same X-ray department and hence was aware of his family’s immediate financial need. Joshi realised that Dhanjay’s family was eligible for claims under the government’s insurance policy. After enquiring in the health ministry and the New India Assurance about the ways to file a claim, he submitted Dhanjay’s details with the help of the Bombay hospital human resource department. Following on, Joshi got an email from the insurance company that his wife has received the sum in her account. “I worked with him in the X-ray department for four years. He was survived by his wife and a daughter, who studies in the ninth standard in school. Realising that they would need financial help on an urgent basis, and that can be done through the Prime Minister’s fund for healthcare workers, I approached New India assurance and the health ministry for details. They asked for some documents of the case, which I submitted with the help of the human resources and medical department of the Bombay Hospital. In March, I got a call and an email from the PM healthcare department, and last week, I got a call and an email from New India Assurance. Last Friday, they transferred Rs 50 lakh to his wife’s account Bank of India Wadala Branch,” Joshi was quoted as saying by TOI. Amid the horrific times due to a raging Covid-19 pandemic in India, stories of people rising to the occasion for humanitarian purposes are also resonating.

news

Mohammed Shami plans to impart knowledge to youngsters, says can’t keep on playing forever

India pacer Mohammed Shami feels that it is the right time that he starts imparting to youngsters, the experience and knowledge gained through playing professional cricket for so many years. “It comes automatically,” Shami said about mentoring. “After being in international cricket for so many years, I would like to share any input that the youngsters may want. I am not going to play forever, so it will be great if I can pass on something to the youngsters,’’ Gulf News quoted the Bengal cricketer as saying. The 30-year-old would be travelling with the Indian Test side in England for the all-important World Test championship Final at the Rose Bowl against New Zealand and the subsequent five-match Test series against hosts England. The right-arm pacer feels that the Indian team is in good and can do wonders this summer. “We have played some extraordinary cricket in recent times as a unit and naturally, the confidence level is high. If we can reproduce some of the performances which we did over the last six months, I am confident it will be a great summer for us,” hoped the Punjab Kings bowler. Talking about his plans in the upcoming year, The Amroha born, who has 180 Test wickets in 50 games to his credit, refused to divulge details, saying that things aren’t always in control of a man, no matter how much he plans. “See, there is no point in planning too much as certain things are not in our control. Who would have thought that the pandemic would virtually destroy two years of our lives – hence I prefer to take it by each series or tournament as the case may be,” he said.

news

Jofra Archer's elbow injury resurfaces in County Championship return

Jofra Archer has suffered yet another injury setback as his elbow injury has resurfaced in his return to the County championship game against Kent in Hove. Archer went back from the field after bowling just five overs in Kent’s second innings of the game. Sussex coach Ian Salisbury confirmed in his address to the press that Archer’s elbow was sore and hence his inability to open the bowling in Kent’s second innings created confusion in the Susses team. However, he opened the bowling and bowled five overs to extract the opening wicket of Jordan Cox in what could well be his last over of the game as suggested by Salisbury. “I think there was some confusion about the state of Jofra’s elbow. Ben thought he was going to bowl but his elbow was sore and there was confusion over that and he couldn’t bowl. If you saw today, he’s not going to bowl tomorrow. You’ll have to ask the ECB,” Salisbury said. Jofra Archer first suffered this elbow injury on England’s tour of South Africa in late 2019 due to stress fracture. He recovered to make it to the IPL 2020 but the problem resurfaced on the tour of India earlier this year. The elbow injury combined with a freakish finger injury ruled Archer out from two out of four Tests against India. Archer’s elbow injury has been a persistent headache for England team management especially with the Ashes scheduled to take place at the end of this year. A lot of hope and expectations were built on Archer’s return to the longest format for Susses after going through surgery on his finger. However, another episode of recurrent elbow injury has squashed England’s hopes of settling down concerns with regard to Archer’s fitness and availability in the Test format.