Australian cricket legend Ian Chappell has lit the fuse on Ashes eve by taking a swipe at Joe Root's captaincy and urging England's skipper to take on more responsibility by batting at No. 3 this series.
Root became England's most successful Test captain with a win against India back in August taking the side to 27 wins during his tenure, as he surpassed the likes of Michael Vaughan, Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook.
Yet Chappell believes Root, who's yet to win an Ashes series as skipper, lacks "imagination" as a leader in comments that are sure to rile up England's camp ahead of Wednesday's Ashes opener in Brisbane.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about his captaincy. I don’t think that’s very good,” Chappell said on Wide World of Sports' 'Outside The Rope'.
“He’s got an imagination problem. That is important in Australia. His best chance with captaincy is if he takes quite a bit of advice from Stokes. Stokes has established himself as a very aggressive player.
“I don’t think England can win the series if Joe Root and Ben Stokes don’t perform well. Joe Root; I’ve got real questions about his captaincy, but his batting is very good. I think he’s probably got to get 500 runs in the series [for England to have a chance of winning].”
Root has had a stellar 2021 campaign in the lead up to England's tour Down Under, notching up 1455 runs from 23 Test innings at an average of 66 to sit comfortably on top of the ICC Test batting rankings above Australian rivals Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne.
The 30-year-old has batted at No. 4 for much of his career, particularly since taking on the captaincy in 2017, where he has an average of 53.37 from 50 Test matches, compared with his average of 38.66 across 30 Tests batting at first drop.
However, Chappell said Root must bat at No. 3 given the concerns around England's top order.
"The question I would ask Joe is why don't you bat at three?" he said.
"I've always believed that you are better off coming in at one for not very many than two for not very many, and no-one has really proved that they can bat at three.
"Joe has got all the credentials to bat at three, there's never going to be a better time for him to bat at No.3 because he's in terrific form, but he just won't seem to bat at No.3.
"He might get lucky in Australia, and No.3 it could be (Dawid) Malan, and Malan I think is a reasonably decent player. If Malan has a good series at three and keeps Joe away from the bowling for a while then it's got a chance at working.
"But, I wouldn't be trusting to luck, I'd be saying if I was Joe, 'I'm batting at three'".
Root's strong 2021 season thus far has seen him hit six centuries although he's yet to surpass triple figures on Australian shores, where he averages just 38.
Former Australian Test captain Mark Taylor said this Ashes series would be career-defining for Root.
“He’s probably in the form of his life,” Taylor said. “An average of 38 in Australia - he’s done OK. It’s not bad in Australia but if he can have a good series, make a couple of hundreds here and give England a chance to go ahead and win the Ashes, it will be defining for Joe Root, no doubt. I think he’s been a very good batsman.
“I don’t have him in the greats [of the game], along with [Virat] Kohli or Steve Smith of this era. But if he was to have a big Ashes series here, it might move him up a notch.”