JOE ROOT’S first Ashes tour as England cricket captain has been more eventful than he expected, just not in the way he had hoped.

“I knew it would be challenging and I knew there would be stuff around the cricket, but not to this extent,” Root said of the off-field issues that have followed his squad around Australia. “I’m fed up of talking about stuff that’s not cricket. I don’t know how I’ve still got all my hair ... I can completely see how captaincy can take its toll.”

England trails the five-test series 2-0 after losses in Brisbane and Adelaide. Australia can clinch the series with a win at the Waca in a match that will also mark England opener Alastair Cook’s 150th test and the last as the stadium’s premier cricket venue in Perth.