Daily Mail - 01.08.2019

Daily Mail, Thursday, August 1, 2019

87

ROOT: ‘WE LOVE IT

AT EDGBASTON’

BUMPY RIDE!

circumstances after Cape Town.

And today’s Aussie side will

include another keeper —

Matthew Wade — as a specialist

batsman.

It is up to England to take

advantage of the Test captain

least deserving of his place on pure

ability since Mike Brearley and

make sure this most momentous

of cricketing summers has a

second half that can live up to the

success and drama of the first and

that World Cup.

England have taken the sensible

option in leaving out Jofra Archer

after what Root described as a

‘very serious’ side injury.

He will work on his red-ball form

and fitness in the nets with a view

to him making his Test debut in

the second match at Lord’s.

That leaves Broad, rightly

preferred to Sam Curran,

and Chris Woakes looking

over their shoulders

today when they join a

fit-again Jimmy Ander-

son in a seam attack

lacking the extra pace

Archer and Mark

Wood brought to

the World Cup.

That addi-

tional speed

might be pro-

vided by Ben

Stokes, who is close to his all-

round best for the first time since

his brawl in Bristol and is back in

the vice-captain’s role that Root

revealed he never wanted him to

be stripped of.

Yet it is still the England batting

that looks vulnerable. Root, at

last, moves up to three but Jason

Roy stays as opener when he

might have been better suited to

the No 4 role that goes to Joe

Denly. The pressure is still very

much on that flaky top order.

‘It was completely my decision,’

insisted Root of his move back to

where coach Trevor Bayliss

(below) has long wanted him

to bat. At least Root is worth his

place wherever he bats unlike Aus-

tralia captain Paine, who showed

his sensitivity yesterday by

reportedly banning English

tabloids from his dress-

ing room. As he is

unlikely to be reading

this we can say his side

should not become the

first Australia team to

win the Ashes here

since 2001.

But it might be

another roller-

coaster of a short

and sharp ride

before England

regain the urn.

DAVID WARNER 7

Played some good knocks at

the World Cup but has had

precious little first-class

cricket to gauge him on.

But he will be up for the fight

against the new ball.

CAMERON BANCROFT 7

Sussex played Durham twice

recently and even when he

did not get a heap of runs he

found a way to hang around

against us. Australia want

him to be the guy to blunt

the England bowling by

making them bowl second

and third spells.

USMAN KHAWAJA 5.5

Another player with precious

little cricket in the build-up

due to injury but he knows

what it is all about at three in

a Test match and will give a

good account of himself.

STEVE SMITH 6

Like Warner and Bancroft, he

will have to cope with abuse

from the stands. His batting is

world class and he’ll prepare

his plans for these conditions

diligently. No one will have

hit more balls this past week.

TRAVIS HEAD 6.5

A big hundred against

England Lions will give him

confidence and he has a

good record after eight

Tests, averaging 50. His big

challenge is to convert his

starts into big scores.

MATTHEW WADE 6.5

Has scored heavy runs at

quite a clip and is very much

a selection for now despite

not playing Test cricket for

a while.

TIM PAINE (capt/wkt) 6

Not done much wrong

either in his leadership or

with the bat since being

handed his recall last year.

His keeping has also been

high class.

PAT CUMMINS 7

One of Australia’s best

bowlers for a while now. Hits

a regular spot on the wicket

at good pace and will get

enough movement off the

surfaces here to cause the

top-order problems.

JAMES PATTINSON 7

In good nick with the ball,

running in and bowling

rockets. A bowler who can

change games in a short

space of time is always

dangerous. Ready to go after

three injury-plagued years in

the international wilderness.

PETER SIDDLE 7. 5

If you are going for horses

for courses then he would be

the likely starter ahead of

Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell

Starc. Like Bancroft I feel he

will have benefitted from

strong form here with Essex.

NATHAN LYON 7

The Goat. The greatest of all

time when it comes to

Australian off-spin. A

wonderful competitor, and

most importantly leads the

team song so can’t be left out!

AUSTRALIA

FORM GUIDE

JASON GILLESPIE’S

playing at Edgbaston, the Gabba

or the moon. We think our best

cricket is good enough and the

Edgbaston pitch and crowd and

grandstand, or whatever it is,

won’t play a part in deciding

this Test match.’

And he was unimpressed by the

suggestion that there was no

more intimidating venue in the

world than Edgbaston. ‘Than

this? I could name you 15.’

That casual dismissal is sure to

fire up spectators as England

aim for a fifth successive home

Ashes win. If that is the case,

Root will not be complaining.

‘You’re very aware here that

the crowd are in full support of

England,’ he said. ‘We love

coming here and love the

atmosphere this ground brings.

It doesn’t really concern me

how they are viewing it, but we

know we’re in the really good

position of having full support

and some of the noise

throughout the semi-final here

was great. I can see it being

very similar this week.’

Root was also hoping the Test

team could feed off the one-day

side’s World Cup success, with

seven of the winning squad

playing at Edgbaston.

‘Cricket in this country is

probably at an all-time high,’

he said. ‘It’s got interest it

probably hasn’t had for a

long time and we’ve got an

opportunity as a team to make

this summer a very memorable

one. To have that carrot in front

of us is a great motivator.’

From Back Page

FIRST TEST ESSENTIAL

Umpires: Joel Wilson (WI) & Aleem

Dar (Pak). TV umpire: Chris Gaffaney

(NZ). Match referee: Ranjan

Madugalle (SL).

Pitch report: The Edgbaston surface

looked decent before it again went

under covers yesterday. But whether

it is good enough for these two

sides to make big scores remains

to be seen.

Weather: The worst of the

Birmingham deluge seems to be

behind us and only the threat of

occasional showers should disturb

the first three days.

TV: Sky Sports Main Event from 10am

(play starts 11am). Highlights on

Channel 5 from 7pm.

Radio: Test Match Special on BBC

Radio 5 Live Sports Extra.

ENG

106

AUS

134

DRAW

90

P 330

TESTS

DRAW

5

SERIES

ASHES

RECORD

SO FAR

ENG

32

AUS

33

P 70

A BRIEF HISTORY LESSON FOR

OUR AUSTRALIAN FRIENDS

TIM PAINE thought he

was summoning the

Blitz spirit of Sir Winston

Churchill by announcing

the Aussies’ motto for

this series — ‘behaviour

doesn’t lie’. There is no

evidence that Churchill

ever said this, however,

and the quote’s most

notorious proponent

is in fact conspiracy

theorist David Icke — a

climate change denier

who believes the royal

family are shape-shifting

lizards and that the

moon projects

holograms on to Earth.