A few months are left before the highly anticipated Ashes 2025-26, which is scheduled to start on November 21, 2025. Prior to that, former Australia international David Warner started a banter through his verbal exercise. Warner took a cheeky dig at England maestro Joe Root. The former cricketer criticized his footwork by comparing it with a surfboard.

Stuart Broad, former England cricketer, did not miss the opportunity to fire back at the Aussie. Over the years, Root developed himself as the prime middle-order batsman. But whenever he was up against their archrival Australia, Root failed to convert his momentum into a triple digit. Across 14 tests in the country, he has a top score of 89 and an average of 35.68, without a single century to his name.

Warner predicted that the right-handed batter can be exposed because of his footwork and can be easily trapped for a leg before the wicket. For that, Josh Hazlewood can be the nemesis for Joe Root, as predicted by David Warner. Stuart Broad corrected the inputs provided by the former opener. 

Read More: [WATCH] ENG vs IND 5th Test: Yashasvi Jaiswal's heartwarming celebration after smashing century at The Oval

War of words to set the tone

"The big anchor there is Root, who is yet to score a hundred in Australia. Hazlewood tends to have his number quite a lot. He will have to take the surfboard off his front leg," Warner said to BBC Sport.

I’ve never heard England’s best ever batters front pad called a Surfboard 😂😂
Just for clarity. Hazelwood has got Rooty LBW in Test Cricket 3 times. Three. https://t.co/HZc7hojQHi

— Stuart Broad (@StuartBroad8) August 2, 2025

Using his social media platform, Broad said that Hazlewood has dismissed Root leg-before only three times in his career. Broad's information was correct, as Root has fallen to Hazlewood 10 times in 18 tests, and against Pat Cummins, he lost his wicket 11 times in test cricket. "I’ve never heard of England’s best-ever batter's front pad called a Surfboard. Just for clarity. Hazelwood has got Rooty LBW in Test Cricket 3 times. Three," Broad said on the social media platform 'X.'.