Ashes 2023Joe Root promises more Bazball from England at Lord's despite losing 1st Test at Edgbaston

By India Today Sports DeskStar batter Joe Root said England will stick to their approach of playing aggressive cricket, famously dubbed as the ‘Bazball’, in the remainder of the Ashes series despite their defeat to Australia in the first Test in Birmingham. Root said that the England players find no need to change their approach even as questions are being asked of it after the series-opening defeat at Edgbaston.

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Joe Root said England walked the talk by playing the brand of cricket that they promised to play even in a series like the Ashes, against the World Test Champions, Australia.

England lost the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston by 2 wickets after failing to defend 280 runs in the final innings. The two teams played completely contrasting styles of cricket as Ben Stokes’s England stuck to their guns and played an entertaining and aggressive brand while Australia were willing to grind it out in an old-fashioned way.

England declared their first innings at 393 for 8 after just 78 overs on Day 1 when Joe Root was batting on 121 not out. Questions were asked about the declaration call but England struck to it and bowled out Australia for 386. England came out swinging in their second innings, posting 273 even without one of their batters reaching fifty. Root himself ‘Bazball’-ed in the second innings, hitting 46 in quick time before skipping down the track to Nathan Lyon and getting out stumped for the first time in his career.

“Naturally, (We are) a little bit disappointed, but as you mention, what a great Test match for 5 days, I think as a team, we played some really exciting cricket and pushed the game hard, pushed Australia hard for all ot it. Really, it’s a bit disappointing to be on the wrong side of things,” Joe Root told England Cricket.

“I think it’s been a really important week for a number of different reasons, we showed how we intend to go out and play and how we backed up (the way) in a big series, even in an Ashes series that we will stay true to how we want to do it. I think that’s an exciting prospect for the next 4 games. Anyone coming in to watch the game will be thoroughly entertained. I think they should expect the same in the next 4 games,” Root added.

‘WE DON’T JUDGE OURSELVES WITH RESULTS’

The two teams will meet in the second Test at the iconic Lord’s in London from Wednesday, June 28 and Root said there is no reason for England to hold back.

“Absolutely, we are going to be genuine and authentic to what we say we are about as a team, and that’s not going to flip. We are not going to fluctuate. Everybody should strap in because this week showed we are well in this series. There’s going to be some brilliant cricket to watch throughout and we want to make sure we are on the right side of it,” he added.

Several questions have been asked about England’s approach, including their team selection, but Root pointed out that if they had held on to their half-chances, England would have been 1-0 up in the 5-match series.

Ben Stokes was at the center of action on Tuesday as the skipper dropped a difficult catch of Nathan Lyon when Australia still needed 37 runs. In the end, a 65-run partnership for the 9th wicket between Lyon and Pat Cummins helped Australia clinch a stunning victory in a thrilling final session.

“I mean, obviously, everyone comes to a Test match to go and win it. But that’s not how we judge ourselves as a team. How we judge ourselves is how we go about things and how we play out cricket. We can proudly say that we have done that, we just needed a few things to fall in our favour, few half-chances up, we would found ourseves 1-0 up,” Root added.