Joe Root of England walks off the ground after being dismissed (Photo: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images) Former Australian opener David Warner didn’t hold back in his criticism of Joe Root after the England star fell cheaply again in the second innings of the opening Ashes Test at Optus Stadium in Perth. Root, dismissed for a duck in the first innings, managed just eight in the second before Mitchell Starc trapped him in the 20th over.Root’s struggles against Starc continued, with the left-arm pacer claiming wickets in both innings. Each time, Root was tempted to play deliveries outside the off-stump – he got to the slips in the first innings and cut to the stumps in the second. Starc has now dismissed Root 10 times in Test cricket against 639 balls, with the right-hander scoring 349 runs at an average of just over 34.
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England initially took control with a 40-run lead in the first innings, but their advantage quickly evaporated as Ben Duckett (28), Ollie Pope (33), Harry Brook (0) and Root fell in the flurry. High-risk shots from Pope, Brook and Root drew sharp criticism from Warner, who called England’s “Bazball” approach reckless.“It’s meaningless baseball, all three to begin with. Now we want some smarts in the game and that’s just not smart, especially from a guy with over 10,000 runs. They’re trying to make something out of nothing. They’re way ahead of the game and that passage of the game could be expensive,” Warner said while commenting on Fox Cricket.Australia regained the upper hand in the second over on Day 2 with Scott Boland taking three wickets in just 11 balls – removing Duckett, Pope and Brook.England were eventually all out for 164 in their second innings, setting Australia a target of 205 to win the first Test. Starc completed a remarkable 10-wicket haul as he also dismissed skipper Ben Stokes, leaving Australia in a strong position heading into their chase.
