Tough questions spurred Root to new heights

Joe Root has revealed that it was a few home truths from Mark Ramprakash that helped inspire him to a career-best score in the Old Trafford Test.

Describing his two dismissals at Lord's as "almost the final straw," Root turned to Ramprakash, the England batting coach, for advice. But rather than suggesting technical alterations or reassuring Root as to his quality, Ramprakash questioned whether he was in the frame of mind to be playing Test cricket at present.

Root had looked well-set in the first innings of the first Test at Lord's. He had added 110 for the second wicket with his captain, Alastair Cook, and moved within two of another half-century. But then he attempted an unnecessarily aggressive slow-sweep and top-edged to mid-wicket. England's innings fell away and, with Root also succumbing to a loose pull in the second innings, Pakistan went on to win the game.

It was far from the first time that Root had played a part in his own dismissal once set at Test level. Indeed, it was the 17th time in almost exactly 24 months that he had been dismissed with a score between 48 and 99 in a Test, in which time he had scored five Test centuries. And it was that failure to capitalise on his starts, that lack of ruthlessness, that persuaded him to seek advice ahead of the second Test in Manchester.

It worked. Root produced his most controlled, mature innings to date to help England to a vast first innings total and, eventually, a victory that left the series level at 1-1 with two to play.

"The most frustrating thing about this Test match summer so far is that the majority of my dismissals have been batsman error," Root said. "They have been things that are my own fault rather than good pieces of bowling where I couldn't do much about it.

"I look back at a number of dismissals and think 'that's not good enough, I've got to be doing better than that'. It was almost like the final straw at Lord's. I'd really wound myself up and I knew having been moved up the order, being 1-0 down in the series, I needed to put a really big performance in.

"I worked really hard in practice and, after the Tests, spoke to Mark Ramprakash about areas I could potentially go further with my game.

"I asked him: is there anything I could be doing differently or better to offer more to the team. He said 'it must be your mental approach to things because your game looks in good order, you're playing well in the nets and you look pretty comfortable out there.'

"One thing he said was 'are you mentally in the right place to play Test cricket at the minute?'

"I didn't even think about that at the time. That sort of hurt me, that someone would say that to me. But it was a good motivator to get me in the right place for Old Trafford.

"It was actually exactly what I needed to hear. That's why he is such a good batting coach and why he is getting a lot out of our batters at the moment."

Part of the problem, Root believes, was adapting to playing all three formats of the game within a short space of time. While he dismisses any sense that he was tired or jaded, he does admit that adapting to the different tempos of the formats has challenged him and that, at times, he has lost his wicket in Tests to the sort of stroke that might have been more appropriate in the limited-overs formats.

"The way I was approaching things was still edging towards one-day cricket a bit," Root said. "Maybe I was expecting to score at a certain rate or play in a way that didn't really suit the situation or the way the opposition were bowling.

"It may have had something to do with switching across three forms. I don't think it's a fatigue thing. I was just trying to turn that mental approach from one-day cricket to Test cricket. Previously I've got that right but on this occasion I don't think I did quite.

"The fact that Ramps picked up on that and I was able to turn that round in quite a short space of time was really pleasing. It was nice to have push in the right direction, which is probably what you need from the coaching staff."

It is not the first time Root has used the pain of defeat to drive him to improve. He was stung by his experiences on the Ashes tour of 2013-14 when England were thrashed 5-0 and Root was, for the only time in his career, dropped from the Test team.

But while he admits it was a tough experience at the time, he also feels he benefited from it. He believes it taught him not only which areas of his game he needed to improve, but how to react in adversity.

But, most of all, it has given him a hunger to put things right. While England have a lot to think about before the next Ashes tour - not least a tour to India and the Champions Trophy next June - it is only about 15 months away and Root admits both to training with one eye on it and to dreaming of what he believes would be an "immense" victory.

"At the time, that tour was difficult for me," he said. "More than anything when I look back at that series, it was the amount of things I tried to change when it wasn't going well.

"I learnt a lot on that trip about my technique, areas I needed to learn but also what were my strengths and the basics of my game.

"Now, in situations like that, I just try to strip my game down to the bare basics and really rely on what I know works consistently for me. I had the mental strength within myself to know that and not to panic and just keep working hard. So going through that experience really did help me.

"At no point over the last 12 months have I really felt out of form, and since the start of the summer my game has felt in a really good place even though I wasn't getting the big scores.

"That was the lesson I learnt from that trip and I suppose it is a big driver for me to keep improving and keep looking to go big when I get the chance.

"There are a few players in our squad who were on that tour and would like to get back out there and put some really strong performances in. Me and a few of the other guys are doing things now to get us ready for Australia and India and playing on different surfaces so that you don't just turn up and say 'I need to do this and I need to do that' you've already got a base layer in your locker before you get there.

"I would imagine that winning in Australia is one of the best feelings in Test cricket. It was great watching the guys do it not long ago and the stories and memories from a few of the guys who are still playing now are great to hear about.

"Hearing it makes you very hungry to go and do it yourself. We've got a really strong squad of players who can go and do something special over there. It would be immense to be on a winning tour down there having scored a lot of runs."