Joe Root says Ricky Ponting knows nothing about England dressing room

Joe Root has dismissed Ricky Ponting's suggestions that he has looked like a "little boy" leading England in this winter's Ashes.

Root acknowledged the former Australia captain's entitlement to his opinion but pointed out Ponting has no inside-track on happenings inside the touring squad.

Ponting caused a stir between Tests, after England lost the Ashes with a crushing innings defeat in Perth last week, when he described Root as someone who needs to "step up big time" and has little respect from his own squad.

Root said: "He's entitled to his opinion, but he doesn't spend any time in our dressing room or around the squad.

"I'm obviously going to disagree with that - I'm sure if you asked any of the guys in the camp, the coaches or support staff or players, they would back me up on that."

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Root is confident he is more than capable of taking a firm hand if necessary.

"I don't think I go about things as a 'little boy', for sure," he added. "I have my own way of doing things - I think it's important you don't try to be something you're not.

"I know there are occasions where you might have to be quite strong in front of the group. I may not appear to do that out on the field but there are certainly times when I know that I can do that, and I have done that."

Meanwhile, Australia paceman Josh Hazlewood has piled more pressure on England's beleaguered bowling attack ahead of the Boxing Day Ashes Test - telling them they are not doing a good enough job with the bat either.

The fourth Test starts at the MCG on Tuesday and Hazlewood underlined his side's mentality of wanting to sweep the series with a barbed shot at England's lower order.

"We know if we get them four or five down then we can really go through that bottom half pretty quickly on any wicket," he said.

"We don't really need much in the wicket to take those last six wickets. It's about grinding it out, getting those first four or five.

"That's been one of the big differences, our middle to lower order has wagged a fair bit this summer."