From the direction in which his bat came down, to where his feet went to where his body weight finished up, it was Joe Root's batting telling him that it was in rhythm ©AFP
"Yess, there's the rhythm." It's the most satisfied Joe Root had sounded with his batting since landing in Australia. The declaration at the Gabba nets two days out from the first Test wasn't meant for anyone in particular, except maybe himself. The England Test captain had spent a considerable amount of time, fretting over his technique in the Gabba nets. There had been quite a few self-admonishing cries of "Noooo" from him leading up to this moment.
Repeatedly, he'd asked Paul Collingwood for feedback on the positioning of his left shoulder. Was he being side-on enough? How much of his left shoulder blade could be seen when he fronted up to the bowler? Was the bat coming down straight enough? Was his bat-face pointing towards wide mid-off or through extra cover at the point of contact?
These were but some of the queries that Root would throw at either Collingwood or coaching consultant Ant Botha or assistant coach Graham Thorpe. At some level though, they were also boxes he was focusing on ticking in his own head. Here was a world-class batter who'd come to these parts on top of his game. He'd scored runs in all conditions and against all comers. But what shone through in his preparation, was his extreme determination to not be content with being the best Test batter in the world for the year. He was instead trying everything he could to
