Joe Root vs Mark Waugh

[PlayerComparisons]

50+ avg is very likely, Australia is 50/50

I think both are going to be much tougher than you think but I do hope you’re right.

 

[Johan]

I think both are going to be much tougher than you think but I do hope you’re right.

English players retire early if their form starts going down, so if that happens I don't think Root would stay long enough for his average to significantly drop.

though, Australia is tricky because the last series the high bounce constantly got him, he is virtually perfect against the seaming and swinging ball and sensational against spin as well but he has to tweak his game against true bounce a little, one monster series in Australia is all he really needs to be a tier 1 ATG Batsmen instead of a tier 2.

Prediction – He'll pass Punter with a higher average than him.

 

[PlayerComparisons]

English players retire early if their form starts going down, so if that happens I don't think Root would stay long enough for his average to significantly drop.

though, Australia is tricky because the last series the high bounce constantly got him, he is virtually perfect against the seaming and swinging ball and sensational against spin as well but he has to tweak his game against true bounce a little, one monster series in Australia is all he really needs to be a tier 1 ATG Batsmen instead of a tier 2.

I still think both are very unlikely but I don’t mind being proven wrong on this.

 

[Johan]

I still think both are very unlikely but I don’t mind being proven wrong on this.

wellllllllllllllll he did prove you wrong about his averaging falling to Ross Taylor level

 

[PlayerComparisons]

wellllllllllllllll he did prove you wrong about his averaging falling to Ross Taylor level

Tbf I was obviously joking when saying he would end up Taylor/Hussey level

 

[BazBall21]

Think a hundred in Australia is more likely than averaging 50 still.

 

[sayon basak]

Averaging 50 in AUS will be tough to say the least. Root average only 35 now.

 

[PlayerComparisons]

Think a hundred in Australia is more likely than averaging 50 still.

Main reason he could struggle in Aus is if they bowl dry since he doesn’t leave/defend much anymore under Bazball. It’s why he struggled in India earlier this year until he made a conscious decision to bat really slowly and not play any premeditated shots.

 

[Johan]

Think a hundred in Australia is more likely than averaging 50 still.

yeah that's almost a impossible, but reckon one big series and a 40+ average is fine, Lara averager 41 In Australia but no one holds it against him.

 

[PlayerComparisons]

yeah that's almost a impossible, but reckon one big series and a 40+ average is fine, Lara averager 41 In Australia but no one holds it against him.

I thought he meant averaging 50+ overall, not in Aus

 

[Johan]

don't know, either make sense in the context of the comparison, but the type of batsmen Root is it's very easy to see him average 50+ at the end of his career, literally doesn't struggle anywhere but Australia and plays plenty outside of Australia.

 

[GIMH]

It’s overstated how much he struggles in Australia anyway.

Very poor first Tour there when Johnson ran amok, the team was falling apart and Root was messed around bumping up and down the order, having opened in the prior summer, before being given a mercy dropping after four Tests. I’d go as far as to say the management of Root in 2013-14 is as bad as I’ve seen for a young England player.

Averaged 47 in 17-18. No hundred, but hardly a rank failure.

Last tour, amidst tyranny, illness and the dying embers of his captaincy, he only managed a 32 average but he was the third highest run scorer in the series. Still, you expect better from Root even if others aren’t scoring, but context matters.

None of this is to excuse anything. He needs a couple of tons en route to our victory there next winter to end this talk once and for all. But his ‘struggles’ down under are exaggerated.