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Joe Root sought help from Ricky Ponting to improve his conversion rate from fifties to hundreds
The first Test of the Ashes starts from August 1, and Ricky Ponting has urged Joe Root to bat at number three for England
Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting revealed that England cricketer Joe Root spoke to him about improving his conversion rate from fifties to hundreds, when the Test skipper played for Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League last year.
The current England Test skipper approached Ponting to help sort out his conversion reate. In 80 Tests, Root has sixteen hundreds and 41 fifties, with a conversion rate of only 3.61.
"He said he wanted to have a bit of a chat about his cricket and where he felt he was in his career," Ponting told cricket.com.au.
"For me, (his conversion rate issue has) one hundred per cent just got to be a mental hurdle that he can't quite get over, and the more you start thinking about little things like that, the harder they are to put them out of your mind.
"I'm sure every time he gets to 50 now, the next 50 runs he scores will probably be the hardest runs he ever scores when it should be the other way around; the first 50 should be the hardest and the second fifty be the easiest, but it always looks like it's just getting a little bit more difficult for him.
"But like I said (to him), if he keeps putting himself in that situation enough where he gets to that fifty mark, it won't be long before he starts turning them into hundreds."
However, with the upcoming Ashes to be held in England, Root has little to worry, as his issue with the conversion rate is overseas. Abroad, he has scored 19 fifties and five tons, while he has 19 fifties at home too, but has 16 tons in England.
He has had a good run in the Ashes in England, scoring three tons and three fifties, and Ponting admits that the bwolers will have to be on their mark against the English skipper in the upcoming series.
"We probably haven't bowled as well to him in England as we have in Australia, or the plans that we've been trying to execute haven't been executed well enough here in England," Ponting said.
"I honestly think the boys will have a pretty set plan on how they're going to bowl to him this series. I think they had some really clear plans in Australia last time, most of them worked and it wasn't until really late in the series where he started to even look at home or look comfortable.
"He looked uncomfortable all the way through that last series I thought, in Australia."
