Steve Smith's advice for Joe Root is pure gold

England are falling apart in the ongoing Ashes and are just a loss away from losing the urn. The team was blown away by Australia in Brisbane and there were no changes in their fortunes in Adelaide as well as they went down by 275 runs.

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Questions are being raised on Joe Root's captaincy as well. The team has made some shocking decisions in the two games. In Brisbane, they left out star pacers James Anderson and Stuart Broad and then played the Adelaide Test without a specialist spinner. The team certainly looks low on confidence.

Australia vice-captain Steve Smith, who was in charge of the team in Adelaide, has a piece of advice for England skipper Joe Root. Smith said as captain of an international side, criticism is bound to come your way and the best Joe Root can do is to take it positively and keep doing what he has done with the team for several years.

"There's always going to be critics out there that critique your performance as a captain. I guess for him (Root), the best advice I could give is just trust yourself, and do everything you can to help your team grow and be as successful as you can be," cricket.com.au quoted Smith as saying.

"Sometimes as a captain you get out-played by the opposition and there's not a great deal you can do. But just reflecting or seeing what you can do better is always important, that's part of being a player or a leader," he added.

The third Test will be played in Melbourne from December 26. Australia have added Scott Boland to their squad as a backup for the fast bowlers. Meanwhile, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are also likely to be back in the playing XI. It will be interesting to see what changes England make to their playing XI.