He ain't heavy, he's my brother - Joe Root defends team-mates to the end

It was, arguably, the trickiest bit of Joe Root's Monday in Sydney.

He went through his usual routines, cameras fixed on his every tick. Cheeks ruddy, he puffed them out once more, took a deep breath, fronted up and answered a question about whether he could understand why so many England fans would find Jamie Smith's dismissal irksome? A Marnus Labuschagne bumper with a 74-over old ball slapped to deep cover for an already fortuitous 46, when his team were 323 for 5 on day two of this final Ashes Test.

"I can understand why, whenever someone loses a wicket, you'd be frustrated," said Root, a second century in Australia to his name, this one against the red ball. "But there is no one more frustrated than the guy that's lost his wicket."

He's right, of course. Smith looked bereft. The logic, as Root went on to explain, was that the second new ball on the horizon was going to pose problems and with two part-timers on - Travis Head graced the Randwick End with four overs of pub off-spin - this was time to step it up.

"When it doesn't come off, it can look… a certain way," Root said, kindly, adding he would support Smith "100%" were he to repeat the act.

You don't need to meet Root halfway to see his reasoning. After 57 for 3 at the start of day one, the second new ball ended up polishing off England's first innings to the tune of 9 for 4.

But it doesn't quite stack up through Root's own actions against Labuschagne and Head.

Off the former, he scored just 3 off 7 deliveries, a dot and a single before Smith's demise. Against Head, he cracked a couple of freebie fours - a drag down pulled fine, a sweep from one tossed up outside off - among seven singles and four dots.

Above all else, Root would know on a quicker surface, with the roller reinforcing the indentations from Sunday's 45 overs, having a set batter would have been better to deal with the second rock. Will Jacks picked up the mantle well enough, 27 of a patient stand of 52, but his demise led to the slide of a tail brutally exposed.

As we know from the last four years, Root is a Bazball outlier. He has benefited from the positivity; more engaging, fashioning new scoring options that has him striking at 66.24 since Ben Stokes picked up the captaincy following Root's resignation. He was going at 54.65 in the 117 Tests pre-Bazball, with an average 49.19 dwarfed by the 57.01 since the start of the 2022 summer.

But there is a broader understanding that he needs to keep doing him to allow the others to do it their way. Sadly, most of them are either still trying to work out what that is, or have lost the thread of what it was.

Much of the scorn directed at this England team right now - Smith in particular - is partly exacerbated by Root's own achievements. If someone had told you at the start of this series he would not just break his century duck once, but twice - this one a 41st, drawing him level with Ricky Ponting, as well as being his first against the red ball in Australia - you would have never have envisaged this situation.

England 3-1 down, the series done in the first three Tests and by stumps on day two of the final match, seemingly without a hold of this game despite posting 384. Australia have already whittled that down to a lead of 218 for the loss of just two batters.

Root, however, is too good a team-mate to go with that point of view. In Smith particularly, he sees a young player making his way, having enjoyed a thrilling start to Test cricket. And like Root did, now going through a troubled patch in Australia that has seen him ridiculed - for dropping Head on day two at Brisbane, for a cowboy dismissal in Adelaide with the game and series on the line, then today's aberration - and dulled to the point of averaging just 23.12.

It's worth remembering it was for this Test in the 2013-14 series that Root was dropped for the one and only time in his career. And it was on the physio table in the away dressing room in 2018 that he lay flat out, too ill to continue an innings of 58*. He returned to it at the end of the day on Monday after suffering cramp in his back that had him flapping about "like a fish out of water" before recovering fully to fulfill media duties.

Root also defended Harry Brook, who looked nailed on for a century of his own before fiddling at one that didn't need to be fiddled at, manufacturing an edge to first slip on 84.

"Brooky played exceptionally well and it was a vital partnership for us, to play in that manner," Root said. "I hope he gains a huge amount of confidence from that, not look back at in regret. It could be a vital innings in the context of this game."

A wayward bowling display, which saw Root's 160 wiped off inside 34 overs, as Head's speedy 91 not out took Australia to 166 for 2, was excused as heart and desire: "If anything, it was almost trying too hard and wanting it too much."

Much of this is exasperating. Root feels like the person constantly making excuses for his problematic friends. No, they're really chill, actually, you just caught them on an off day. Trust me, they're great once you get to know them. But having come into this Ashes saying this would not be all about him, it undoubtedly would have helped the team if he imposed more of himself upon it, even called them out behind closed doors for wasting a great opportunity, not just today but across this series.

Granted, that does not seem to be the way a hands-off coaching group operate. But as mentioned, Root is an outlier. And it is clear how he is adored, how the dressing room and beyond see him as an inspiration. And thus, how many would heed his words if, say, he went up to Smith, and offered calming guidance in the heat of battle. The 25-year old had already had two reprieves on 22 - chipping to cover off a no ball, then slashing the very next ball between keeper and first slip - that might have drawn as much ire as his eventual demise.

Root is not that type of person, and probably better for it. He doesn't like to impose on other players' games unless they ask, in which case he will give them all the time they'd like. Even as Test cricket's second-highest run scorer, he does not believe his method is the "right" way to go about it, simply the right way for him.

Of course, he was never going to publicly lament Smith's foolish cross-batted swipe, Brook's unnecessary flourish outside off and a directionless pace attack. That would be damaging to a vulnerable group of players.

But it is worth them considering the words Root spoke of himself, and the sentimentality he is placing on the two final innings of this Ashes campaign.

We can say with some certainty that Root will get one more Test in Australia, with the 150th Anniversary Test in March 2027. But a full Ashes tour next time around in 2029-30, in which Root will turn 39?

"Who knows? We'll see. I'd love to, but we'll see how things unfold in time," he said. "One thing I always try and look at is opportunity, and I don't know how many opportunities I'm going to get to come back to Australia.

"Last week was great to win at the MCG, and I guess that presented another opportunity here this week, to try and help us try and get into a position of strength in this game early on, to try and replicate that feeling for the group.

"Hopefully that benefits the Test team moving forward when it comes back to playing here - having good memories. A lot of this squad, it's the first time they've been out here. If they've got good memories then we can find a way to win this fixture, then the next time we come out the last two memories we'll have will be two Ashes wins.

"I guess the baggage that might have been there for a previous generation might not be there, for them."

In the here and now, Root wants to do it for the Smiths of this team, those enduring their own battles who could yet still be nourished by moments of success to know coming back and believing you can be successful is not as foolish as it seemed after the first 11 days of this series.

The problem, however, is without Root, there will be no one to cover for them. Off or on the field.