'Everyone should strap in and expect the same from us' - Joe Root confident of England's comeback in second Ashes Test at Lord's

Ahead of the second Test of the ongoing Ashes 2023 series, England batter Joe Root issued a stern warning for the fans, saying that they must ‘strap in’ as England will stick to their ‘Bazball’ approach and aim for a comeback. Australia and England will now face each other at the iconic Lord’s for the second Test of the five-match series, and Root is confident of the hosts leveling the series.

Australia took a 1-0 lead after winning the first Test at Edgbaston. It was a thrilling affair, as the game came down the wire on Day 5 when England needed two wickets to win and the visitors needed a few runs to get over the line. Skipper Pat Cummins’ brilliance with the bat saw the reigning World Test Champions win the game in a dramatic fashion.

“If we are going to grow as a team, we can‘t just look at a day like this with a couple of moments going against us and say, ‘We need to do things differently’. If anything, we need to double down on how we do it, completely back ourselves, and make sure we get those one-percenters right at Lord’s,” Root was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

We‘re in for a hell of a Test series here: Root

With the game scheduled to begin on June 28, Wednesday, the two sides gear up for the next challenge, England, who already are trailing in the series, will be looking to make a comeback at the mecca of cricket. Ahead of the contest, Joe Root was quite vocal about England’s plans saying that the fans should expect a similar aggressive form of cricket from England.

“Zak (Crawley) hit the first ball of the game for four, everyone backed up what we‘ve spoken about – all the hype and talk about, ‘Can England do it this way against Australia?’. I think we’ve proven to everyone that we can. Everyone should strap in and expect the same from us. That’s what we’re about as a team. We are going to challenge and compete. We‘re in for a hell of a Test series here,” he added.