Despite losing their best batsman in Steve Smith during the second test, Tim Paine has assured that the team will continue to stick to its plans. Joe Root, meanwhile, is happy with how England 'bounced back' at Lord's.
Following the draw between England and Australia in the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, English captain Joe Root said that it was a good comeback from his men after a poor performance in Edgbaston.
"I think it was important that we bounced back strongly after (losing the first test at) Edgbaston and I think we've certainly done that," England captain Joe Root said. "We've proved that we're still in this series and we will take that momentum going into the next game."
Archer's performance at Lord's on his test debut will give England real hope, though. He was a permanent menace, taking 2-59 off 29 overs in the first innings and then 3-32 off 15 overs in the second.
"He has announced himself on the world stage in a different format," England allrounder Ben Stokes said, "and the sky is the limit for that kid."
"You can't control the weather," Root said. "We had to get ourselves to a score where we thought we were in control of the game and we managed to do that.
"Then we threw everything we could at them, and fair play to Australia, they managed to hold on."
England may have had an upper hand for the most of the second Test, but that hasn’t forced the Aussies to rethink about their strategies, according to their captain Tim Paine.
“We'll focus on what we think is going to win the games and our message from a captain or a coach won't change," Paine said.
"We've got a pretty clear plan in place that we think if we execute we can win the Ashes in these conditions. Whether Steve's playing, whether James Pattinson is playing it doesn't matter. The players we pick are picked to play a role, they're really clear on that. They know what's expected. Everyone on our team does.”
The Australian captain acknowledged that Steve Smith’s brilliant form has been one of the major reasons behind the side’s success so far, but praised Marnus Labuschagne, who came into the XI as a concussion-substitute for Smith.
"It's not so much about the person. We've been lucky that we've had Steve Smith batting really well but I thought Marnus came in and batted as well as anyone did in the Test match.
“We wanted two [substitutes] - I think if Smithy is averaging 62, you want to bring a couple of batters in. But Marnus played superbly, for a guy in probably his [sixth] Test. He got hit hard in the face second ball and I thought he showed great character great skill and technique. We know Marnus is a quality player and he's getting better all the time. We're happy with the way he played.”
