Joe Root believes England are well prepared for the Aussie pace attack

Joe Root does not have good memories of the Ashes as he had a very poor time with the willow during his first Ashes tour in 2013-14. He witnessed the damage done to the England batsmen by Aussie pacers Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris that time at a very early stage in his career.

Thus, he has a fair idea about how intimidating the Aussie pace attack could turn out to be, though Mitchell Johnson would not be there this time for the Aussies. However, England’s new Test captain believes that his batsmen are ready to face the current and fiery Aussie bowling line up during the ICC Champions trophy and then the Ashes later this year.

The young captain is yet to make his debut as the English skipper after being named as the same back in February. He will first lead the English side against South Africa in a four-match series at home. That will be followed by a three-match series against the Caribbean team before they finally take on the mighty Australians for the Ashes.

The 2013-14 series was not worth remembering for the 26-year-old as he saw himself being dropped from the side of the final Test at Sydney. But he has since then silenced his critics by enjoying a superb run with the bat across all formats and is now considered one of the finest talents in the world along with Steve Smith and Virat Kohli.

But before the Ashes get underway in late October, England are to face Australia in the shorter version of the game. The two teams are set to lock horns at Birmingham on June 10th in the Champions Trophy.

Eoin Morgan’s men could have a tough time in the match dealing with an Aussie bowling line up which may include the likes of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson and Pat Cummins. It would be a real test of character for the English side and would determine how far the hosts have come in limited-overs cricket since their poor performance in the 2015 World Cup.

“You’re always asked when you go to Australia whether you can perform in hostile environments against high pace and every Australian side I have played against has had guys bowling over 90mph (145kph), so the guys who have been around international cricket for a while know what to expect, whether they have played against them in the IPL or Big Bash,” Root was quoted as saying by cricket.co.au.

“Guys have been able to get used to it or experienced it. No-one is going in cold in terms of this Champions Trophy. There will be questions asked against high pace but I like to think that the guys are looking to improve their games and are putting in the work now,”

“As a side we are getting better at that all the time and when it does come round hopefully the lads are prepared for it,” Root concluded.