England owe under-fire skipper Root a win, says Bairstow

Melbourne: England's players owed under-fire skipper Joe Root their utmost to turn the tables on dominant Australia in the showpiece Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow said on Saturday.

The Ashes has already been decided with Australia taking the first three Tests, but England is scrambling to avoid an embarrassing 5-0 series whitewash.

Bairstow said captain Root was coping with the growing pressure and the England team was working hard to break their run of outs against the Australians in the fourth Test, starting at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday.

"We don't just owe him (Root), we owe ourselves as well," Bairstow told reporters. "It's something that you don't come away and work as hard as we work to get nothing out of at all."

Root has been in the firing line leading a disastrous England tour and has been blasted by former Australia captain Ricky Ponting as looking like a "little boy" who has been a "bit soft" during the Ashes defeat.

Ponting senses Root is struggling to command the respect a leader needs, and suggests that has been demonstrated by some of England's off-field controversies.

"Those things show a complete lack of respect for him as captain," Ponting told reporters. "To be honest, I think he has been under pressure right from the start because of things that have been happening off the field." 

Bairstow "headbutted" Australia's Cameron Bancroft in a bar in October, while this month England Lions batsman Ben Duckett was suspended for pouring a drink over England bowler James Anderson.