Sport Third Specsavers Ashes Test
7
8
9
England
Draws
Australia
Last meeting
August 2009
Australia won by
innings and 80 runsEngland
Australia
Headingley, 11am
Probable teams
England RJ Burns, JJ Roy,
JE Root (capt), JL Denly,
JC Buttler, BA Stokes,
JM Bairstow (wkt), CR Woakes,
JC Archer, SCJ Broad, MJ Leach.Australia CT Bancroft,
DA Warner, UT Khawaja,
TM Head, M Labuschagne,MS Wade, TD Paine (capt, wkt),
JL Pattinson, PJ Cummins,
JR Hazlewood, NM Lyon.Umpires JS Wilson (West Indies)
and CB Gaffaney (New Zealand).
TV umpire HDPK Dharmasena
(Sri Lanka).
Fourth umpire RT Robinson
(England).
Match referee J Srinath (India). Weather
Today Light cloud, 20C
Tomorrow Light cloud, 22CSaturday Sunny intervals, 24C
Sunday Sunny intervals, 25C
Monday Sunny intervals, 24C. TV
Live Sky Sports from 10am
Highlights Channel 5, 7pm. Head-to-head at Headingley.
Game zone
England have to
capitalise on Smith
absence, says Root
England captain Joe Root senses a
massive shift in momentum and has
said his team have to “jump on” the
absence of Steve Smith from the
Australia side as they look to level
the Ashes series this week.
Despite Root’s confidence, Eng-
land have to win at Headingley. A
victory for Australia would ensure
they retain the Ashes and a draw
would pile the pressure on England
as they would have to win the final
two Tests.
All the conversation before the
Lord’s Test was about how England
would stop Smith. Jofra Archer’s
pace provided the answer and Root
appears to have grown six inches in
height now he has a huge new
weapon at his disposal. He described
Archer as a natural for the big stage
and believes his arrival has given
England the upper hand.
“Massively,” said Root, when
asked if there had been a shift in
momentum. “I think the way we
played throughout that game [at
Lord’s] was excellent. With the ball
we looked threatening throughout.
We managed to get good partner-
ships together, especially in the
second innings. I said I wanted a
response and got it. I feel we are in a
good spot going into this match.”
Smith has haunted Root for three
Ashes series. He scored two hun-
dreds here in 2015, dominated the
series in Australia 18 months ago
and looked immovable until his
brutal duel with Archer that
resulted in a delayed concussion.
“It’s very unfortunate on their
part, but we had the challenge of
Jimmy [Anderson] going down four
Nick Hoult
CRICKET NEWS
CORRESPONDENT
at Headingley
Captain declares shift
in Ashes momentum
In-form Pope called up
as injury cover for Roy
overs into a Test match and had to
manage without a replacement. So
you get these swings within a big
series like this every now and again
and when you get your opportunity
you’ve got to jump on it,” Root said.
“They will be huge shoes to fill
whoever comes in for Australia and
we’ve got to make sure we keep
looking to exploit their techniques
on these wickets.”
England will retain their top-or-
der line-up, so Root will stay at
three, even though he admits he is
less consistent in that position. Joe
Denly and Jason Roy will be given
one more chance to stake a more
permanent claim to their places in
the side. Jonny Bairstow will moveEngland are considering bringing
in Sam Curran for Chris Woakes.
There are concerns over how
Woakes’s knee will stand up to the
quick turnaround between Tests,
but he appears likely to play.
“I think there’s a lot of talk about
the batting order because of the
variety of options we have. At no
stage are we trying to reinvent the
wheel,” Root said. “But we’ve got to
play to our strengths and be flexible
over the course of the series. I feel
Jason can have a real big impact at
the start of an innings. It might not
have happened just yet, but we fully
expect him to go out and do that.”
Home comforts could not come
at a better time for Yorkshire’s Root,
who returns to Headingley after a
golden duck in the second innings
at Lord’s. He tweaked his guard,
moving more over to the leg side to
try to combat his weakness against
the ball nipping back into him, but
was out caught behind.
Root, who is averaging 32 since
the previous Ashes series, added: “I
am enjoying the role [at three]. I
just love batting. It doesn’t matter
where it is. It was frustrating when
I got two balls that went up the
slope [at Lord’s] quite significantly
and two balls of high quality with
the new ball, but that can happen
when you bat at the top of the order.
“I might not be as consistent as I
would be batting further down, but
it means when I do get in I have to
make it count and get big scores.
“I did change my guard on that
wicket. I felt it was not really carry-
ing to slip. I felt the danger was the
one that nipped back. It was more
like risk management rather than
worrying about my technique.
“I have done things like that
before and it has gone under the ra-
dar. When it goes wrong it seems to
grab the attention of the experts.”
That is the scrutiny of being an
England captain in an Ashes series.
England need their leader to fill
the hole left by Smith by being the
dominant batsman in the match.up to six and Jos Buttler drop to
seven if England bat first. If they bat
second, Bairstow will be given more
time to recover from keeping and
swap with Buttler.
Ollie Pope will join the squad this
morning as injury cover for Roy,
who took a mild blow on the head in
the nets on Tuesday and will have
to go through a concussion proto-
col procedure this morning.
Roy will be fit for the game, but
Pope, who just scored an unbeaten
double hundred for Surrey and
played two Tests last year, is next in
line for a middle-order place. Root
declined to name a final XI andStokes takes extra care
Ben Stokes was the one England
player to add neck protectors to
the back of his helmet for nets
practice at Headingley
yesterday, (above left), having
batted without them at Lord’s
(above right).No change: Jason Roy is set to play
despite a blow to the head in the nets2 *** Thursday 22 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
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