NEW DELHI: Skipper Ben Stokes hailed Joe Root as England’s greatest batsman Wednesday and backed him to fire in the Ashes against Australia, while hyping up his team’s vaunted pace attack.England’s record run-scorer is yet to win a Test in Australia in 14 attempts and is still searching for his first ton, despite boasting 39 hundreds in his career.Root, 34, arrived in Perth this week to newspaper headlines calling him “Average Joe” as pundits highlighted his supposed shortcomings.But Stokes said he had no concerns about Root’s failure to make three figures in Australia in the past. “He’s the greatest English batter that the nation has seen,” Stokes said in Perth ahead of England’s only red-ball warm-up game starting on Thursday before the first Test on November 21.“He’s been in phenomenal form over the last two, three years, and he’s not come out here to score a hundred in Australia, he’s come out here to contribute to his team.”Root, the world’s top-ranked batsman, has a top score of 89 in Australia and also played down his lack of tons before leaving England, insisting: “At the end of the day this tour is not about me.“They are going to say what they want to say anyway, so why bother worrying about it?”England assistant coach Marcus Trescothick warned Australia will face a different Root when the five-Test series starts, believing the conditions will suit him.– ‘Next level’ –“His game has gone to the next level and hence the reason where he is in the rankings,” the former England opener said.“You would be very surprised if he doesn’t carry on in that same sort of vein with the style of play and the type of player he is.”While Root scoring runs will be key to England’s success, they are also heavily relying on an attack full of express pacemen led by Jofra Archer and Mark Wood.With Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue also in the squad, England are expected to rotate them to get through the grueling series.“It’s great to have the X-factor that Jofra and Woody possess in terms of pace,” said Stokes. “Woody’s got over his knee surgery that he had quite a while ago. He’s overcome that, and he’s looking really, really good.“Jofra’s been out for two-and-a-half years now, so it’s great seeing those two flying in and sending some fast falls down there.“The guys that we’ve picked are all in a really good place,” he added.“It’s very nice knowing that you’ve got a bowling attack that all bowl 85 mph and a couple of guys who can get into the low-to-mid 90s as well. “But it’s not just all about pace, it’s about skill. And we’re fortunate enough that we’ve got a battery of fast bowlers who not only bowl good pace, but are also extremely skilful in any condition.”
