Cricket World Cup 2023: Australian players bite back at Joe Root comments

‘Man for man I’d have this team every day over the Australians’. See just how well that comment from Joe Root went down with Usman Khawaja and other Aussie teammates here.

Marnus Labuschagne, David Warner and Usman Khawaja bit but Pat Cummins opted against adding fuel to the fire after Joe Root’s eyebrow-raising comments that England was man for man a superior one-day side to Australia.

The rivals square off at Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday, with the reigning champions rooted to the bottom of the World Cup league standings and facing an uphill battle even to qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy.

Australia conversely enters the match on the back of four straight wins and well on track for a seventh semi-final berth in its last eight one-day World Cups.

Yet despite their contrasting form, England veteran Root said in the lead-up to the game that there was more quality in his side’s XI than that of the Aussies.

“Man for man I’d have this team every day over the Australians,” Root said.

Jasprit Bumrah (R) celebrating the wicket of Joe Root. Picture: Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP

The comments were posted on Fox Cricket’s Instagram page, with Labuschagne and Warner commenting with laughter emojis and Khawaja quipping that Root was “talking ‘morally,’” a clear reference to the moral victory saga that permeated for much of this year’s Ashes series.

However speaking on Friday, Cummins suggested that it was no surprise that Root would make such a remark.

“Of course he’d say that. We’d say the same about our team,” the Australian captain said.

England star Ben Stokes spoke much less flatteringly about his side’s performance.

“The problem is we’ve been crap,” Stokes said on Friday.

“It’s just been a disaster, there’s no point sugarcoating it.”

While the Aussies are much better placed than their foes, things aren’t going perfectly for Australia.

Glenn Maxwell’s “freak accident” on the golf course and Mitch Marsh’s departure for family reasons has left the Aussies with only 13 players to select for this match.

Cummins would not confirm Australia’s XI but said “I don’t think there’ll be too many surprises,” a hint that Marcus Stoinis and Cameron Green would come into the side.

The skipper said he expected both Maxwell and Marsh to be back in the side before the tournament’s end.

“It’s not ideal. Both have been star players of the tournament so far at different times. That’s the way it is. We knew at the start of the tournament we’d need a full squad of 15,” Cummins said.

Pat Cummins at the press conference on Friday. Picture: Getty Images

“Maxi’s hopefully (available) for the clash against Afghanistan, so he’ll just miss this one.

“Mitchy we’ll wait and see. He’ll definitely come back, I don’t think it’ll be a super long trip back home to Perth but the main thing is he’s back home and we’ll give him as much time as he needs.”

Cummins said he saw Maxwell’s spill from the back of a golf cart on Monday but shed little extra light on the build-up to the accident.

“I played golf with him in the arvo. He played quite nicely. Yeah and then I was on the bus. Unfortunate, it’s just one of those things. Freak accident. Unfortunate but good to know it’s nothing more serious,” Cummins said.

The captain added that given the extended league stage, 15 players per squad was too few.

“Yeah. It’s a two month tournament. You wouldn’t want to be in a position of a team like New Zealand who have had some injuries. Luckily they’ve been able to hold someone like Kane (Williamson) in the squad,” Cummins said.

“Yeah I think that would be good for cricket and the World Cup. It’s not like you can poach players from other countries. As many players as you need, you should be able to (use).”

Originally published as Cricket World Cup 2023: Australian players bite back at Joe Root comments