Ashes 2021-22: Root challenges England bowlers to be ‘braver’ after Adelaide defeat

Jos
Buttler
made
26
from
207
balls
before
he
stepped
back
onto
his
own
wickets
and
Chris
Woakes
top-scored
with
44
as
the
tourists
put
up
an
admirable
fight
on
the
final
day.

However,
it
was
always
likely
to
prove
fruitless
and
they
were
eventually
bowled
out
for
192
in
the
final
session.

Jhye
Richardson
(5-42)
claimed
a
maiden
five-wicket
Test
haul
on
his
Ashes
debut,
showing
Australia’s
strength
in
depth
in
their
bowling
ranks
in
the
absence
of
Pat
Cummins
and
Josh
Hazlewood.

Cummins
is
set
to
return
to
captain
Australia
for
the
Boxing
Day
Test
in
Melbourne
after
missing
out
in
Adelaide
due
to
being
a
close
contact
of
a
positive
COVID-19
case.

England’s’ shortcomings
with
the
bat
have
been
plain
to
see,
but
skipper
Root
wants
to
see
the
bowlers
change
their
approach
to
give
them
a
chance
of
getting
back
into
the
series.

Ashes:
Richardson’s
fifer
powers
Australia
to
big
275-run
win,
2-0
lead
at
Adelaide

Asked
about
England’s
plans,
he
said:
“I
think
when
you
look
at
ball
in
hand
in
particular,
I
don’t
think
we’ve
bowled
the
right
lengths
if
we’re
being
brutally
honest,
we
needed
to
bowl
fuller.

“As
soon
as
we
did
in
that
second
innings,
we
created
so
many
chances
and
we
made
it
hard
work.
We
need
to
do
that
more,
we
need
to
get
the
ball
up
there,
be
a
bit
braver
because
when
we
do
we
make
life
difficult.

“That’s
one
of
the
frustrating
things,
we
did
that
four
years
ago
and
we
didn’t
learn
from
it
–
we’ve
made
mistakes
throughout
the
game
that
we
made
last
week,
whether
it
be
no-balls,
missed
chances,
we
just
have
to
be
better.
We
have
to
learn
those
lessons
quickly
ahead
of
next
week.”

Jhye
Richardson
claims
a
five-wicket
haul
to
set
up
a
275-run
victory
for
Australia!

The
hosts
go
2-0
up
in
the

#Ashes
series
????#AUSvENG
|

#WTC23
pic.twitter.com/f6L2vRjH2l

—
ICC
(@ICC)

December
20,
2021

England
will
ponder
making
changes
in
Melbourne,
with
fast
bowler
Mark
Wood
expected
to
return.

Root
said
during
the
post-match
presentation:
“Of
course
someone
like
Woody,
he’s
always
going
to
offer
something,
that
extra
bit
of
pace
he
has
and
hopefully
he’ll
be
raring
to
go
for
the
rest
of
the
series.”

Despite
England
having
a
mountain
to
climb,
Root
believes
they
can
pull
off
a
remarkable
fightback
and
challenged
his
fellow
batters
to
step
up.

Asked
if
he
believes
they
are
capable
of
winning
the
series,
he
said:
“Absolutely,
you
have
to
be.
I
think,
I’m
convinced
we
have
got
what
we
need
to
win
over
here,
we
just
need
to
be
better
and
we
can’t
keep
making
the
same
mistakes.

“Guys
need
to
get
themselves
in,
get
past
that
first
20-ball
period
and
then
get
greedy.

“We
need
to
leave
better
on
occasions
as
well
and
manage
certain
passages
of
play
better,
but
we’re
more
than
capable
of
doing
that
and
we’ve
shown
it
in
small
pockets
that
we
can
we’ve
just
got
to
do
it
for
longer,
and
as
I
said,
do
better.”