'Soft' Root needs to toughen up - Ponting

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting feels that Joe Root has lacked authority in dealing with England's sloppiness both on and off the field. © Getty

Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has suggested that England skipper Joe Root, who took over from Alastair Cook last summer, needs to toughen up as a leader and stop 'acting like a little boy'.

England haven't had a good outing Down Under in the ongoing Ashes series, especially with the senior players not stepping up. 3-0 down, England have lost the Ashes, and there seems little hope of them making a comeback in the series given the disparity in the all-round performances of the two sides.

Even Root's personal form hasn't been great in the ongoing series. The England captain has mustered only 176 runs in six innings, at an average of 29.33.

"Joe seems like he is under the sort of extreme pressure that he has never felt before, which is what you would expect in an Ashes contest," Ponting said. "Everything about it is more intense than anything else you play. Spotlight and scrutiny is completely different.

"Even how he is addressing the media - I know he is not [naturally] too forthright or too on the front foot, but the way he addressed things last week, it just seemed he was really quiet and too shy to say too much. I think they need him to step up big time.

"The way he answered a lot of the questions after the game last week, and almost the Brisbane game as well, he seemed almost like a little boy. You need to be more than that as a leader, especially when things aren't going well. Even if it is not natural to you, sometimes you have to put on a different face and stand up for what you think is right and what you believe in. Not only inside the dressing room but outside it as well. For me, it just looks like it has been a little bit soft, if anything."

England's Ashes journey has been marred by a couple of off-field controversies. What began with Ben Stokes's brawl in Bristol before the tour, was followed by Jonny Bairstow headbutting Cameron Bancroft and Ben Duckett pouring a drink over James Anderson.

Ponting believes England's off-field woes have put Root under a lot of pressure and resulted in him playing poor strokes to get dismissed. Unlike Steve Smith, who has battled tough times in the middle to rescue his side time and again, Root has failed to do so.

"To be honest, I think he has been under pressure right from the start because of things that have been happening off the field," Ponting opined. "To me, what those things show was a complete lack of respect for him as captain. There is always a bigger picture out there. If you are found out doing the wrong thing, it doesn't just impact you, it impacts your captain.

"And, to me, he just looks like he was under pressure before the first ball was bowled. Look at some of the shots he's played, it looks as though something is playing on his mind. In the first innings in Adelaide and second in Perth. They are not the sorts of shots you would expect from one of the best players in the world. And not someone who is trying to lead from the front. They seemed pretty lazy, pressure shots."

Even as Ponting, who himself has lost three Ashes series but also guided the team to a 5-0 whitewash - their first such instance in 80 years, praised the attacking leadership of Root, he believes the England skipper is too scared to upset his players and allowing them to make excuses for their performances. The Australian stalwart feels England's coach and captain's reluctance to criticise their players publicly has resulted in a very comfortable team environment despite England losing the series with two games still to go.

"Listening to him post-game in Perth, and Trevor does the same thing, where they keep talking about how good they have been and how competitive. I am not seeing that at all," he said. "They haven't played any cricket that has put them a long way ahead in the game. They have played cricket that is trying to sneak ahead in the game.

"When you consider they have won all three tosses, lost by 10 wickets in Brisbane, everything that could have gone their way in Adelaide went their way and they lost by 120-odd runs and then an innings and 40 runs in the next Test. I think they have been completely blown away and blown off the park. Unless you can find some drastic ways to get better, I'm not sure how they are going to improve."