Root fails to make the Ashes all about him ... as England simply fail

Joe Root punched his bat as if it had stolen something. It was only by the second jab that Alex Carey had tossed the ball towards the bright blue Adelaide skies upon collecting the precious nick.

The fury was Root's to unleash, the dismay all of England's to let wash over them as the inevitable looms. He was done, and so were the Ashes. Sunday's return is ultimately about Australia claiming four more wickets to win the urn inside 11 days, rather than the 228 runs that England still need to clear.

It was the second time Root had fallen while defending unnecessarily outside off stump in this match. The returning Pat Cummins had been responsible for both, taking his Root tally to 13. The worst thing about it? It might have been worse than Harry Brook being bowled leg stump trying to reverse Nathan Lyon, the moment that triggered England's latest slide. Brook had a method based on experience. Root had a demise based on experience.

All in, it was the 17th of Root's 30 dismissals in Australia that have come in the channel and finished in the cordon. And it is perhaps the most damning statistic for a batter of his undoubted class. His is a calibre of cricketer that only comes around… well, once…but this is almost certainly his final meaningful act in what will be his fourth overseas Ashes defeat. The mercy of turning 35 later this month is that Root might never have to go through all this again. The pain is that, this time, it was supposed to be different.

Even with two Tests to come after Australia surely wrap up this one, the prospect of England finally winning a single match over here looks gone. Root's 17th Australian Test has crept into a fifth day through fight, but this squad already look done.

The number Root really won't care for was the 39 he walked off with on day four of this third Test. Not least because it was his second highest score of his six innings so far.

The century duck he finally broke in that first innings of the second Test at Brisbane will be one of the few things that will nourish England fans. They had greater hopes for this series, even if many still predicted an eventual Australia win.

But Root himself would have preferred that hundred to have come in a win, rather than a tick in an otherwise empty box. After all, that is what this trip to Australia was meant to be about.

"This tour is not about me," he proclaimed in October. And he's right, it's not. But for England to achieve his primary aim of winning in Australia, it just had to be.

There are not many more selfless cricketers than Root in this England team. Even across the net sessions England have had on this trip, Root has made sure to appreciate anyone and everyone willing to help out. He even thanks net bowlers when handing back the ball they have just delivered to him, which is rarer than you might think.

But making series about you, particularly Ashes, is no bad thing. Ian Botham has the naming rights to 1981's home meeting between these two sides. Andrew Flintoff claimed them in 2005, even as Kevin Pietersen swept in at the last to deliver the defining moment. Even the otherwise unassuming Alastair Cook is synonymous with the last time England won a series - and heck, a Test - in Australia.

Root has seen first-hand that one man can have all that power. Mitchell Johnson grabbed '13-14 by force. Steven Smith owns '17-18 and a share of 2019. Travis Head pocketed '21-22 and is now vying with Mitchell Starc for '24-25.

Could this have been Root's? Well, yes. For the second away Ashes in a row, he arrived in Australia in a rare vein of form, with eight centuries since the start of the 2024 summer leading into this winter, compared to six in 11 Tests in his annus mirablis back in 2021. In a batting order bred on vibes, he was an island of the craft: the world No.1, the second best run-scorer in Test history, and the best Englishman to ever do it.

Of course, he was always going to need help. Back in 2021, when his calendar-year runs tally was three times higher than any of his team-mates, that was never likely to materialise and sure enough it did not. This time, however, he arrived as part of a settled top seven, including the world No.2 batter, Brook, a player whom Root has predicted will achieve even greater things than he has.

While his average of 43.80 is held up by that single innings of 138 not out, Root is comfortably England's frontrunner. The next highest is Zak Crawley, whose 85 - his second fifty-plus score of the tour, one more than Root - pushed him up to 35.66. Jofra Archer (33.00) sits third, despite batting at No.11 at the Gabba - and so ends the list of touring batters over 30 (which also happens to be the score that Brook made before his latest aberration).

England's moment, really, was that first day at the Gabba, rather than this penultimate one, as they embarked on a record chase of 435. On that occasion, Root batted through to ensure they made 334, but that ended up being plenty short as Australia went 2-0 up on day four with a second consecutive eight-wicket win.

The centrality of Root to Bazball's success is underplayed by both parties, who choose only to acknowledge the impact of one on the another. Root has, by his own admission, become braver with his shot-making (hence the ramp-scoop), now unshackled by no longer being captain and with Ben Stokes setting him in stone at No.4.

And ask anyone in the team about Root and they will tell you no one is better to bat with, or at absorbing pressure before putting it back on the bowlers. Instructively, when he scores runs and others don't, he is cited as an example to replicate.

Which is awkward in its own way because, you know - he's Joe Root. If they could replicate him, they would. And England wouldn't be in this mess, nor be so beholden to his individual success.

The numbers bear out the common sense, that the success of this whole project has hinged on Root. Since Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over at the start of 2022, Root has averaged 64.27 in 25 victories and 45.25 in their 16 defeats. With just 48 runs in this pivotal match, those last two numbers are headed in different directions.

Root's reaction on Saturday was similar to the fury he displayed at the Kia Oval against India in the last Test of the summer, when he edged another in the channel, that time off Prasidh Krishna. With just 37 runs left to clear and five wickets still in hand, he had spurned the chance to see England over the line for a series victory that would have been the first five-match win of the Bazball era. Then, as surely now, his team-mates could not be relied upon to do it without him.

Saturday's punches of the bat were followed by umpteen expletives aimed into the ground, sharp enough to drill through to home on the other side of the world.

As long as he was there, England still had belief that this Ashes might still have something for them.

It did not. Not for Root, and sure as hell not for England.