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Joe Root's century drought in Australia: Myth, mechanics or is there any mental block?

Jatin

Joe Root is yet to score a Test century in Australia [Source: AFP Photos]Joe Root is yet to score a Test century in Australia [Source: AFP Photos]

There is unfinished business in the land of sun, sand and short balls. For over a decade, Joe Root has been England’s batting backbone, a man who has mastered spin in India, swing in England and seam in South Africa.

Yet, one box remains unticked. One innings still refuses to happen. 

A Test hundred in Australia: his final frontier. He has done everything but conquer the bounce.

Nine fifties, fourteen Tests and countless moments of promise have all ended the same way: applause without closure. For a player who has conquered every condition, Joe Root’s drought Down Under feels like cricket’s most elegant unsolved mystery.

Is it just misfortune? Or is there something deeper? A technical flaw or mental scar that has kept him waiting for the one innings that would complete his legacy?

The myth: Has Root really struggled in Australia?

For starters, Root’s stats in Australia are not exactly disastrous.

He has amassed 892 runs in 14 Tests at an average of 35.68, hardly a failure when compared to visiting batters in Australia. Only Alastair Cook and Ian Bell have scored more fifties for England there this century.

But that missing century looms larger than it should, simply because Root has come so close, so often. His fluency early in innings has never been in doubt; it is the final push, the conversion, that has eluded him.

Perhaps the myth of “Root failing in Australia” needs re-examining because he has not failed, he has just fallen short of perfection.

The mechanics: When technique meets bounce

Dig into the data and a pattern emerges.

Root’s signature glide to third man, the shot that brings him bucketloads of runs in England, turns into a landmine in Australia. On the quicker, bouncier tracks, that same late dab turns edges into catching practice for slip and gully.

According to CricViz data, he averages 26.2 against good-length balls and 26.9 against fuller ones in Australia. Against the short stuff? A healthy 63. That tells you everything. 

Root’s struggles are not about pace; they are about length. Bowling that perfect good length delivery that seams away has been Root’s kryptonite. 

Scott Boland, the man who looks like he was designed in a factory for English dismissals, dismissed Root four times in three Tests during the 2021-22 series by doing exactly that: good length, hint of movement, outside edge.

The mental block: Too much want, too little calm

Root himself once admitted he “wanted the hundred too much.” And maybe that is the problem.

For years, captaincy and pressure blended into a mental fog that seemed to shadow every innings in Australia. Eight of his nine fifties came while leading the side, six of them after spending 100+ overs in the field. Fatigue, pressure and expectations have a funny way of clouding judgement when the finish line nears.

Now, without the captaincy, Root bats freer as he averages a staggering 63.44 since the McCullum-Stokes era began. The aggression, the smile, the serenity. it all points toward a man who has rediscovered joy in the grind.

The modern Joe Root: Ready for redemption

He is no longer the cautious accumulator of 2013 or the drained captain of 2021.

Root 3.0 is unburdened, innovative and self-assured. He sweeps seamers, reverse-laps quicks and treats spinners like part-time throwers. More importantly, he looks happy doing it.

So maybe that long-awaited Australian century isn’t a matter of if, but when.

Because as history often reminds us, the game finds poetic timing and few stories would be sweeter than Joe Root, arms aloft in Australia during Ashes 2025, finally exorcising the ghost of missed tons.

Conclusion

Root’s century drought Down Under is about narrative. 

The myth says he cannot; the mechanics show how close he has come; the mind reveals why he still might. 

When that moment finally arrives, it won’t just be another hundred. 

It will be the century that turns a modern great into a cricketing immortal!