Ashes 2017: Joe Root believes they still have Ashes chances despite 2-0 deficit

The third Ashes Test will start from 14 December in Perth.

Joe Root disappointed with the Adelaide test defeat | Getty Images

England skipper Joe Root remains confident that his side still can compete for the Ashes title despite Australia taking a 2-0 lead in the five-Test series by winning Adelaide Test by 120-runs. The right-hander also said that he has no regrets choosing to bowl first after winning the toss at Adelaide Oval against Australia in the first-ever Ashes day-night affair.

On the fourth day of the second Ashes Test, it seemed that England could chase a 354 target and register a memorable victory against the Kangaroos, as they have six wickets at their hands with the score of 4-176. But Aussie pacer turned the fortunate, as they bagged all six wickets on the final day of the Test, conceding just 57-runs, thus the hosts took a 2-0 lead in the Ashes 2017-18 against England.

If the tourists managed to score the remaining 178 runs required for victory on the final day of the second Test, it would be the greatest successful run chase in the history of Test cricket at Adelaide Oval.

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On being asked whether he believed England were still in the series, Root said his team has enough spark to turnaround when they head to Perth for the third Ashes Test on 14 December.

Joe Root told BT Sport, “It's obviously very disappointing [to lose], but Yes definitely (we can still win the series). Yesterday we showed what we can do. We showed the side we actually are and now need to repeat those performances. As I’ve said, last night and the day leading into that second innings we showed what we can do and we showed the side which we actually are. We need to make sure that we repeat those performances for longer periods of time.”

Commenting on choosing to bowl first call at Adelaide, the 26-year-old said, “There are lots of things that you look back on and maybe do differently but that weren’t one of them. I don't actually (regret it), you want to give your bowlers the best chance to take 10 wickets and in those conditions with the quality that we have I fully expected those guys to take 10 wickets. With the rain around and losing some time potentially hampered us, we would have had 10 overs with the second new ball that night that were taken away from us under lights.”

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He said his team showed great character in the Adelaide Test and they were excellent. Root further added on the same, “I thought we showed a lot of character and the way the senior players stood up, in the field especially, to bowl them out for what we did and then go about it with the bat in the manner we did was excellent. I don't think we did ourselves justice today but I think we're still massively in this series and we showed that from the way we played yesterday.”

Root concluded by saying, “The way we went about things in the second innings proved we are still massively in this series - we have shown we can outperform Australia but we haven't done it for five days. That's going to be our challenge. The belief is still there - I don't think we are in a situation we were the last time we were here.”

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 06 Dec, 2017

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