“What a load of nonsense”: Vaughan responds to Lehmann’s Joe Root comments

Former England captain Michael Vaughan couldn’t disagree more with ex-Australia coach Darren Lehmann’s comments about Joe Root.

Speaking on ABC during the first Test between Australia and India, Lehmann questioned whether Root was an all-time great given he’s yet to score a century down under across three Ashes series.

As a result, Lehmann rates both Steve Smith, Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli over the England number four due to the fact they have scored runs in difficult conditions all over the world.

While Root’s top score in 27 Test innings in Australia is 89, Vaughan thinks that the 33-year-old will finally pass triple figures on an away Ashes tour next summer.

“What a load of nonsense,” Vaughan said on SEN Mornings in response to Lehmann.

“We're talking about a player that could quite easily - if he stays fit and that back stays strong – surpass Sachin Tendulkar in a few years (for overall Test runs).

“Just because he's not got a hundred here in Australia, this isn’t the be-all and end-all.

“You'd like to come here, and score runs. But he'll come next year in the way that he's playing in this England side now at four - playing the Joe Root way rather than the Bazball way - I’ve got a sneaky feeling that might come back to haunt Darren next year.

“He might get a couple of hundreds next year and the way that England are playing, particularly against this Kookaburra ball, I think it's going to be a great contest.”

Root has scored 12,777 Test runs – the fifth-most in cricket history - including 35 centuries at an average of 50.90.

He’s comfortably ahead on overall runs compared to Smith (9702 runs, 32 centuries @ 56.40), Kohli (9145 runs, 30 centuries @ 48.13) and Williamson (9035 runs, 32 centuries @ 54.75).