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Find your frequency hereAshes sledging war: Root responds to Warner's "surfboard" jibe
SEN • August 14th, 2025 7:45 pm
With under 100 days until the Ashes series gets started in Perth, the sledging war between Australia and England is alive and well.
Former Australia batsman David Warner recently took aim at the archrivals with a particularly pointed comment for Joe Root.
“Josh Hazlewood tends to have his number quite a lot. He (Root) will have to take the surfboard off his front leg,” Warner said of the English star who is cricket’s second-highest run-scorer of all time behind Sachin Tendulkar.
Root laughed off the sledge while adding he and his teammates are expecting a hostile reception when they arrive in mid-November, with the opening Test set to get underway on the 21st at Optus Stadium.
“It’s a beautiful country,” Root said. “Great place to go and play cricket. It’s going to be hostile, everything you’d expect and want from an away Ashes series.”
Regarding the comments from Warner he added: “Nothing new, is it? You know there are going to be storylines and people wanting to hype up a big series. Doesn’t really change anything.
“It’s sort of irrelevant to me. What can I do about it? Just make sure it’s not a talking point in six months or 100 days time.
“When you get out there you’ve got to try and impact the game and help your team get off to a good start. Business as usual as far as I’m concerned.
“I guess it’s all part of the fun. It’s not really in my nature to get too verbal.”
The forthcoming series will be Root’s fourth in Australia but he is yet to score a century Down Under – a stat he is no longer haunted by.
“The thing that stands out for me is I wanted it way too much the last couple of times,” he said.
“It took me away from what was important.
“Clearly the last few tours there have been loads of other things to contend with... a lot of distractions.
“This time I just want to go and enjoy the tour for what it is. Going there with 150-odd Test matches under my belt, I feel couldn’t be more ready for it.”
