It was as inevitable as talk of Bazball and the Barmy Army, and "moral victories" and that stumping, and Australia's ageing team and convicts, and Ben Stokes being born in New Zealand.

From the moment Joe Root last trudged off Australian soil, defeated by a Scott Boland skidder in Hobart almost four years ago, it was doubtless that upon his return Down Under, people would again be obsessed with his century-less run on these shores.

After all, for all the centuries the prolific English batter has peeled off across his 158-Test career — his tally of 39 trails those of only Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting — he's struck no tons in Australia through 14 Tests.

How England's best batter will fare in this summer's Ashes series, beginning in Perth next Friday, is a question of great intrigue.

Since making his Test debut way back in 2012, Root has churned out 13,543 runs, including 39 centuries and 66 half-centuries, at an average of 51.29.

In England, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, the classy right-hander has reached triple figures at least once and boasts an average of at least 50.

In Australia, however, his average is 35.68. He's recorded nine half-centuries, including a top score of 89, across three Australian tours, in the summers of 2013-14, 2017-18 and 2021-22.

Respectable, but not befitting of a player of his class.
His less fruitful output in Australia has opened him up to criticism, and for as long as he remains century-less, the scrutiny will keep on coming.

Darren Lehmann, Australia's coach when the Aussies swept the 2013-14 Ashes series 5-0, questioned last summer if Root was an "all-time great" and argued he was not quite at the level of the rest of the 'big four' — Australia's Steve Smith, India's Virat Kohli and New Zealand's Kane Williamson — on the basis that he hadn't made an away Ashes century.

It's been decades since former Australian Test fast bowler Rodney Hogg was wearing the baggy green, but he came in off a long run this week, declaring Root would be "a total failure in this series".

Ian Chappell doesn't understand the hysteria.

"His record in Australia — OK, he hasn't made a hundred, but he still averages 35 in Australia, which is not bad ... It's not like he's failed in Australia," the former Australian Test captain told Wide World of Sports this week.

"He's made decent scores; he just hasn't got a hundred.

"Doug Walters didn't make a hundred in England, but that didn't mean that Doug Walters wasn't a great player.

"He [Root] is a very good player."

But the question remains: why hasn't England's generational talent had quite as much success in Australia?

"It's always easier to go from a high-bouncing place to a lower-bouncing place," Chappell offered. "I think that's an easier adjustment to make."

Kerry O'Keeffe's take?

"Wrists limper than a French handshake," the former Australian Test leg-spinner said on Fox Sports last month.

"It doesn't work in Australia.

"The first two Tests are huge for Joe Root. They're nickers' Tests. Perth? They nick for fun there. And Brisbane day-night? Everyone nicks in Bris.

"Joe Root is a nicker. When he was last here, in his first eight innings, he nicked off. Australia knows this. What will be his defensive set-up?

"I'm very bearish about Joe Root."

While the 35.68 he averages overall in Tests in Australia is respectable, his Test record in Perth is awful: 57 runs at 14.25, and a top score of 20, from two matches.

Those two games were played at the famously fast and bouncy WACA. The venue for the first Test of this summer's Ashes, Optus Stadium, uses drop-in pitches designed to be as similar as possible to those iconic WACA wickets.

Elsewhere, Root has made 178 runs at 35.60 with a top score of 61 at the MCG; 183 runs at 36.60 witopghest score of 89 at the Gabba; 264 runs at 44 with a top score of 87 at Adelaide Oval; and 165 runs at 55, including a top score of 83 at the SCG.

In the sole Test he's played at Hobart's Bellerive Oval, he was dismissed for 34 and 11.

The 34-year-old produced a blazing run of form in his most recent Test series, racking up 537 runs at 67.12 against India in England across June and July. Among his scores were three centuries and a half-century.

He had also arrived in Australia for the 2021-22 Ashes on the back of a scintillating Test series, having plundered 737 runs at 105.28, including four centuries and a half-century, against India in England.

And in his last Test series before England's 2017-18 tour of Australia, he had chalked up 268 runs at 67, including one century and a half-century, against the West Indies in England.