The Ashes 2025-26: Stuart Broad says Pat Cummins’ absence massive boost for Joe Root
Joe Root will never confess to it, but the absence of Pat Cummins will make his chances of making his first Ashes century in Australia that much greater, English great Stuart Broad believes.
The world’s No.1 batter has failed to hit triple figures from 27 innings Down Under though he is currently at the height of his powers having made 16 centuries since 2021 and boasting a career Test average of 51.29.
Broad says Root is in the “in the form of his life” and, while Root would never admit it, Cummins being out injured was the best thing to happen for the former skipper having been dismissed by the Australian captain 11 times.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.He will be even more confident now Josh Hazlewood is also sidelined with injury with the aging quick having claimed his scalp 10 times.
Root is not the only batter under pressure with Broad labelling Australia’s top-order “fragile”, singling out Usman Khawaja as being the weakest link in the home side’s top three which still remains a mystery days out from the Optus Stadium match. He also had a swipe at Marnus Labuschagne, saying his return to form was untested against an international side.
Root has made a poor start to his Australian campaign making just one against England’s B team before hitting 31 on Saturday in the second innings of the only warm-up match the team is playing before they embark on ending a 15-year Ashes series losing streak in Australia.
“I think this is his best opportunity to deliver big runs,” Broad told The Nightly.
“I think one thing that Joe Root will be absolutely delighted with, and he would never say this himself, is the fact that Pat Cummins is missing the first Test.
“I think that’s a really big match up. Pat Cummins a phenomenal bowler. He’s aggressive. He’s got this sort of action that I think Joe just finds quite difficult to line up.
“I think if Joe could have picked one player for Australia to have missing at Perth, it would be Pat Cummins.”
I just think that Joe would do England the world of good to get 100 at Perth and put those and put all those sort of question marks to bed.
Root has been in sublime form for England at home and away, often playing a more traditional role than the T20 style of batting that Bazball typifies.
“It’s a real opportunity for Joe in the first Test match to do what he’s been doing so consistently for the last three years, and be that glue in the side.
“He scored three back-to-back hundreds at the back end of the India series in the summer where he was so calm and collected.
“The Australian press has this question mark that he’s not scored a 100 in Australia. That question will be asked to him and everyone around him every day until he does.
“I just think that Joe would do England the world of good to get 100 at Perth and put all those sort of question marks to bed.
“I mean, no one needs to see Matthew Hayden run naked around the MCG (after he said he would if Root did not score a hundred during the series).”
England’s batting line-up was much more settled than Australia’s and Australian fans will get our first look at English rising star Harry Brook.
Brook, who has played 30 Test with an average of 57.55 and strike rate of 87.52, provides the visitors with batting depth and a strong counterpunch if the top order fail.
“I think you’ll love watching Harry Brook play, whatever country you’re from, when he walks to bat, he’s like Travis Head,” Broad said. “You want to sit in your seat and watch him play. You don’t know what’s coming. He could get caught fine leg, first ball but he could also get 160.
“You’ve got players like Duckett and Crawley. Crawley had a lot of question marks over him, but those guys average, I think 46 for an opening partnership, which is awesome.”
While he joked his opinion on what the Australian batting order looked like didn’t “matter too much”, he said Australia would be foolish to have Labuschagne open the batting and their best side was Khawaja and Jake Weatherald opening, Labuschagne at three, Cameron Green at six and Beau Webster omitted.
Broad spoke to The Nightly before Hazlewood was ruled out so Australia could decide to play Webster and open with Labuschagne to give the side more bowling depth with Green still a risk to carry the full bowling workload of an all-rounder.
“If it does nip around, it’ll be all up to the English bowling unit to be able to put a relatively fragile top order of Australia under pressure,” he said.
“If you can bowl full of a length, Khawaja doesn’t move his feet and could nick one to first slip in the first 10 overs of the game. Then there’s pressure and all those question marks keep coming.
“Because we know Smith will be consistent. We know Travis Head will score, and have an innings where he takes the game away from you, and we’ve seen Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc be annoying with the bat.
“I would lean on it being Marnus, because he’s a specialist number three and he’s a proven Test match player, which means then Weatherald would open the batting.
“They (England) have to make breakthroughs with the new ball; Khawaja’s record outside of Sri Lanka has been really poor over the last 18 months, Weatherald will be a debutant and Marnus has only scored domestic runs.”
Broad, who said this was Australia’s worst side to play a home Ashes series since England last won here in 2010-11, believes this is England’s best side in some time and, unlike English teams of the past, they were not facing a formidable top order and needed to take full advantage.
“So getting Australia two, three down early will be vital. That’s what you could never do against Australia. It was always Hayden, Langer, Ponting to get through before you even opened up four or five.
“So it’ll be trying to expose that top order to get the danger man Smith and then Head in as early as you possibly can.”
