New Delhi [India], October 16 : Australia's tormentor in the 2005 Ashes, former speedster Steve Harmison, has predicted that England's talismanic batter, Joe Root, will break his century hoodoo down under and be instrumental in bringing the urn home for the first time since 2015. Harmison was speaking to Fox Cricket Australia.
Root, who has walloped four centuries against Australia on home soil, is on the track to break 'Master Blaster' Sachin Tendulkar's record for the highest runs in Test cricket. Harmison believes the 34-year-old's exploits in the upcoming Ashes would take him a lot closer to the legendary Indian batter's tally of 15,921 runs.
"People have been telling me for two years that Joe Root is coming over to Australia to average 50. He's not. I think he's coming over to average 150. I really do," Harmison said as quoted from Fox Cricket.
Root has returned without a hundred in 14 Tests down under. Despite the staggering statistics, the 46-year-old feels that Root's command of his form in his mid-30s could take him past former opener Alastair Cook's tally of 776 runs that he mustered up during the Three Lions series win in Australia in 2010-11.
"The way he is playing. The mindset he is in. You can have your mortgage on Joe Root scoring at least one hundred. It would not surprise me if he went past what Cook did in 2010-11," he added.
With Australia captain Pat Cummins on the verge of missing the series opener in Perth on November 21 due to a lumbar bone stress in his lower back, Harmison expects Root to fare well at the Optus Stadium. Harmison isn't buying into the notion that England is afraid of Australia. He has backed the Three Lions to notch their first series win in Australia after 15 years with a 3-1 scoreline.
"I am backing England, maybe like 3-1 to come to Australia and sledge Australia and Joe Root to have the best series he has had for a long time. I am that confident England will win," Harmison said.
"Where Joe is at with his mentality and the fact that Cummins is out, I mean Joe is vulnerable the first 15 to 20 balls in Australian conditions, but after that he just keeps accumulating. England doesn't fear Australia. I don't think there's a fear in the world anymore, the way the young players go," Harmison concluded.
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