Ashes 2017/18: Joe Root challenges England stars to be ruthless

England’s Ashes preparations suffered a setback yesterday when Moeen Ali was ruled out of the opener against a Western Australia XI with a potential side strain. Steven Finn will also miss the game after he injured his left knee batting in the nets. Both will have scans today.

With three weeks to go before the first Ashes Test in Brisbane, England are not concerned at this stage about Moeen’s fitness.

However, with Ben Stokes already absent from this tour, losing another key all-rounder in Moeen, even for part of the series, would be a major blow to their hopes of retaining the Ashes.

Even without Moeen, Root wants England to hit the ground running in the two-day game that starts at the WACA tomorrow.

“We want to be as ruthless as we can and start the tour as we mean to go on,” he said. “Everyone is really excited and up for challenge of this tour.