Joe Root has warned his England side cannot rely on the pink ball to work miracles as they look to launch their Ashes fightback under lights at the Adelaide Oval.
The nine-wicket defeat in the first Test in Brisbane has been consigned to history, as England look to level the series in Adelaide.
Joe Root said: “It doesn’t feel like previous tours leaving Brisbane where we have been battered and completely on the wrong end of the result.”
England are in the familiar territory of heading into the second Test of an away Ashes series being 1-0 down.
Australia dominated the first Test in Brisbane, outclassing England with the ball, bat and in the field.
Play gets underway at the slightly friendlier time of 04:00 GMT on Thursday 16th December.
England’s worrying batting form
In 2021, England have been bowled out for under 200 on ten occasions in 22 innings.
Rory Burns’ sixth duck of 2021 was painful viewing considering it was the first ball of the Ashes series. But England’s frailties lie with the fact that despite this record, the Surrey skipper is England’s second highest run scorer in 2021. Burns is widely accepted as England’s best opener, perfectly encapsulating where English batting is at.
Something that will worry skipper Joe Root was that England lost wickets in a cluster. England were 29/4 in the first session. In the second innings England lost 8-74. After getting themselves back into the game following some fine batting by Dawid Malan and Joe Root, England capitulated to lose the game on day four. If England are to win a Test match this series, they cannot lose wickets in clusters.
A lot was made of the decision to bat first at the toss by Root. The overhead conditions suggested bowling first may have been the better option.
Yet, the last two times Root was decided to bowl first, England have capitulated with the bat in the fourth innings (vs India at Lords and The Oval last summer). In hindsight, the decision to bat may have been the incorrect one. However, hindsight is a wonderful thing in Test match cricket.
The fruits of England’s mismanagement of spin bowling were laid to bare in front of the entire world in Brisbane. Jack Leach was smashed out of the attack by the Australia batters in a deliberate ploy to unsettle the England attack.
Lastly, the result in Brisbane could have been much different had England fielded as well as Australia did. Australia caught everything in the first innings, England did not. A missed run out chance on David Warner by Haseeb Hameed at close range could have had big impact on the match.
Not all doom and gloom
Arriving in Adelaide, Root said: “It doesn’t feel like previous tours leaving Brisbane where we have been battered and completely on the wrong end of the result,” Root said.
England’s nine wicket defeat at The Gabba was not all doom and gloom. Ollie Robinson proved that he can lead the England attack in the future. Match figures of 4/71 don’t tell the full story of Robinson’s work.
Mark Wood threatened with his extra pace. Although England would have wished to have the full disposal of their pace arsenal in Jofra Archer and Ollie Stone. Wood showed that the original Silverwood masterplan on pace in Australia could be a success.
Joe Root’s incredible 2021 form continued. Has an English batter ever had such impressive form in a calendar year?
There were flickers of hope with the bat. Jos Buttler’s and Ollie Pope’s 60 run sixth wicket partnership of a counter attacking nature was impressive amidst the carnage of the first morning.
Haseeb Hameed scored 25 (75) and 27 (58). The young openers determination in the first innings was admirable.
Adelaide
The Adelaide Test is the first day/night Test match, with the final Test being finalised for a day/night match in Hobart.
Batting can be desperately tough when the ball swings in the ‘twilight’ period, the kind of conditions England’s well-rested seam duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad would relish, but Root is well aware that batters can also dominate.
In 2017, England bowled Australia out for 138 in the second innings in dusky conditions, but only after watching them declare on 442 in the first.
“For us it’s about not falling into the trap of thinking it’s going to hoop round corners for five days,” said Root.
“There will be periods in this game where that takes a more prestigious role but one thing from our point of view is not overthinking that part of it.”
England will make a late call on whether Ben Stokes is fit to bowl. If he is, they are likely to stick with the top seven that failed them at The Gabba. He did bowl in front of the media at the Adelaide Over – delivering a vicious bumper at his captain.
Chris Silverwood has said that Stuart Broad and James Anderson are “fit and ready to go” in the second Test – despite missing the first Test in Brisbane.
The decision to leave out the two leading wicket-takers in the country’s history for the series opener at The Gabba proved divisive among fans and pundits alike, with concerns over Anderson’s match sharpness and Broad overlooked in pursuit of a more varied attack.
Team news
On Wednesday morning, England named a 12 man squad for the second Test: Haseeb Hameed, Rory Burns, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (C), Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (WK), Chris Woakes, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.
Mark Wood has been rested for the second Test match.
Australia have made one enforced change, as Jhye Richardson replaces the injured Josh Hazlewood. Richardson is the next big thing of Australian cricket. The Western Australian means that Australia’s three core quicks for the Adelaide Test match can bowl long spells in excess of 90mph.
David Warner will play despite having a rib injury.
Australia XI: David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (WK), Pat Cummins (C), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Jhye Richardson.
