Australian documentary 'motivates' England skipper Root for Ashes

England Test captain Joe Root has said watching the first few episodes of a documentary about the Australian cricket team has been a "motivator" ahead of the 2021/22 Ashes Down Under.

'The Test' charts Australia's progress from the low of the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in South Africa through to the high of retaining the Ashes in a drawn series in England last year after the hosts and eventual champions beat them in the World Cup semi-finals.

The largely well-received documentary has also been accused of being a public relations exercise given Cricket Australia had editorial control.

But with cricket suspended worldwide because of the coronavirus pandemic, Root decided to take a look.

"Whilst we were away (on tour) I exhausted a lot of the shows that I wanted to watch, it's come round to watching that now," he told reporters in a conference call on Monday.

"It's been a good motivator to get back and train, get back on the bike, use it as a way of incentivising myself.

"I've only got to the start of the World Cup, so we'll see how the rest of it unfolds."
"We've seen in South Africa that has played a part, it has found us a way to take 20 wickets in foreign conditions."
- 'Hardened' -
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Turning to top-order rising stars Dom Sibley and Ollie Pope, Root added: "If we can keep putting experience into a number of the young batters as well, give them game time, then we're starting to build a team that has confidence, experience, is ready and hardened for the challenges Australia will throw at us."