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Worries mount for England as Joe Root's poor knock vs Lions questions pre-Ashes form

Mayank

England batte Joe Root [ICC/X.com]England batte Joe Root [ICC/X.com]

Heading into the Ashes 2025/26 at the peak of his powers, the former England captain Joe Root is arguably the most important batter of their batting line-up, as they look to regain the urn for the first time since 2015.

Since making his debut in 2012, this will be the fifth time that Root will visit Australia, still in pursuit of the first away Ashes century. However, despite being in imperious touch in red-ball cricket, things in the Aussie looked grim for the batter when England faced England Lions in a practice match in Perth.

Joe Root departs cheaply vs ENG Lions

In preparation for the Ashes opener at the Optus Stadium, from November 21, England is currently in the midst of a 3-day intra-squad match at Lilac Hill Park, Perth.

Having gone for a 1/117 in his 14 overs with the ball, at an economy rate of 8.35 in England Lions' first innings, Root came out to bat after a strong start from Zak Crawley (82) and Ben Duckett (92) at 184/2.

However, the batter's stay at the crease was short lived as he only managed to score 1(12), before skying a rather ordinary Matthew Potts bouncer. Lions captain Tom Haines took a regulation catch to send Root to the pavilion, as concerns creep in for England.

Pope went on to score 69(89) to strengthen his position in the team followed by the middle order contributions from Ben Stokes (46*) and Gus Atkinson (31).

Ahead of the upcoming Ashes, Root has played 14 matches in Australia and has 892 runs at an average of an underwhelming 35.68, with 9 fifties and zero hundreds.

Coming into the series as the number 1 ranked batter, having surpassed the likes of Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Kumar Sangakkara and Ricky Ponting in the India series, this will be Root's best chance to end the wait of a ton in Australia.