Steve Smith vs Joe Root - how Australia's main man outclassed England's, by someone who knows them both

This Ashes series was billed as a battle of the captains before the big off in Brisbane.

Now a punch-drunk England weave their way to Melbourne in the knowledge that Steve Smith hasn’t simply out-scored Joe Root but left him flat out on the canvas.

Earlier today, the ICC revealed that Smith was now second only to Don Bradman in the all-time rankings, ironically passing a Yorkshireman in the form of Len Hutton, en route to second place.

Any comparison between the Don and the current Aussie skipper would have seemed laughably incongruous when Smith made his Ashes debut against England in Perth in December 2010.

Back then, Smith was picked as much for his ability to raise the spirits of the dressing room as his ability to score runs. With England fielders greeting him with ‘tell us a joke Smithie’ as he took guard. No-one is laughing now.

Since the New Year Test in Sydney in 2014, Smith’s form has been little short of extraordinary. He has smashed 20 centuries in that period, including at least one in every series he has played, with the exception of the three-match series against South Africa in late 2016, when he still managed to average 42.

Compare that with the record of Root – who is rightly held up as being one of the most gifted batsman of this, or any other English generation.

In that same period, Root has scored 11 centuries – all of them in the first innings.

To put that into some kind of perspective, Smith scores a hundred every 2.68 Tests. Root scores one in every 4.84, marginally lower than the rate recorded by Alastair Cook and well behind the likes of Virat Kohli (3.15) and Kane Williamson (3.64).

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Trent Woodhill, one of the world’s most respected batting coaches has worked extensively with Smith, Kohli and Williamson and last month spent some time in the nets with Root.

And he’s uniquely placed to offer his opinion on why England’s golden boy is falling short in the battle with his Australian counterpart.

“Steve just plays the way that feels natural,” says Woodhill. “He’s flourishing with his own technique. He rarely plays and misses and part of the reason for that is that they don’t put any emphasis on any ball in the match apart from the next one.

“We’re constantly told – mostly by those in the Channel Nine commentary box – that cricket is all about technique but you only have to look at the styles of some of India’s best batsmen to know that’s not the case.

“The thing about India is that there are so few coaches in comparison to players, there are that many players in India who don’t get coaching so more styles flow through. You see players under pressure fighting their natural instincts.

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“Take James Vince as an example, he drives for fun but he nicks off for fun but he doesn’t need to change his technique, he just needs to get better at driving. It’s his strength. I really like what Root has done but the difference between a Root, and Kohli, Smith and Williamson, is in that hundred conversion. Root can get to 50 no problem but he doesn’t go on as often as the rest.

“My own view is that he didn’t need the captaincy because it doesn’t affect those other three, the way it affects him. He’s under a greater spotlight with England.

“For Kohli, Williamson and Smith, they hit reset after each ball and nothing changes. It’s a shock to those guys when they get out. They turn around and say ‘how can that possibly have happened?’, not because they’re arrogant but in a way that they’re so ingrained in the next delivery that they can’t conceive failure.

“They also don’t entertain the match situation, the only focus for them is the next ball.”

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There’s no doubt that the burden of captaincy appears to have weighed heavily on Root’s shoulders during this series, with the struggles of Alastair Cook – who currently averages 13 in the series – putting the Yorkshireman under additional pressure.

Root’s second innings effort in Adelaide apart, he has looked a shadow of the player who has been the dominant figure in England’s top order since Kevin Pietersen departed the international stage.

The captaincy issue aside, Woodhill believes that Root needs to follow Smith’s lead and trust his game entirely for the remaining two Tests of the series – despite the shadow of another 5-0 whitewash hanging over his side.

“Look at Joe Root at the first innings in Adelaide and in the two innings at the Gabba, he was trying to play too straight. A lot of overseas players come here and are told that they have to play straight, I saw that with the Kiwi players. What really matter is that they play late and they get good contact. It doesn’t matter if their bat is on a 45-degree angle, as long as they make good contact they’re ok.

“That’s why KP was so good in Australian conditions – because of the way he focused on contact and his presence at the crease. He worked on that rather than changing his technique.”

There’s no doubt that Root remains England’s most likely source of runs, as Smith is with Australia.

A return to form at the MCG would come too late to turn around the series but it would remind the Aussies that the battle of skippers isn't as one-sided as the first three Test have suggested.