Joe Root has backed the left-arm spinner Jack Leach and opening batsman Rory Burns ahead of the second Test to be played in Adelaide.
England had a shocking begin to the Ashes down under. Burns missed out on the delivery which was heading to the leg stump and lost his wicket against Mitchell Starc. The team couldn’t recuperate from it as they were bowled out o a irrelevant add up to of 147 runs.
None of the batsmen could cross the 40-run mark. In reply, the Pat Cummins-led side went to score a monumental total of 425 runs. The batsman particularly targeted left-arm spinner Jack Leach so that Root would be forced to ask his tired pacers to bowl again.
Joe Root backs Jack Leach and Rory Burns ahead of the Adelaide Test
“We’ve obviously got some big decisions to make,” Root told reporters in Adelaide.
He said conditions did not suit Leach at the Gabba but Australia could pay the price if they continued to target him elsewhere.
“I’m sure he’ll want to respond and he’ll want to get back into the series and have an impact,” the England skipper said. “Some of the grounds that we will be going to from this point onwards should offer a lot more for him and bring spin into it as well.”
The Dore-born born cricketer has also backed Rory Burns saying that the latter is a strong character. He believes that Burns will come back and put up a big score.
“Rory is a very strong character, you can’t doubt that side of his game,” said Root, himself strongly criticised back in England after winning the toss in Brisbane and opting to bat first.
“He’ll come back in and want a response and want to put some big scores on the board.”
