England not haunted by Lord’s defeat, says Broad

Monday, 27 July 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Being humiliated by 405 runs in the second Ashes test by Australia was a setback but England will not dwell on it when the third test gets underway at Edgbaston on Wednesday, fast bowler Stuart Broad has said.

England won the first test in Cardiff by 169 runs in a near-perfect performance but a resurgent Australia crushed them in the second test at Lord’s to level the series.

“In Ashes series it’s so crucial to be mentally and physically fresh,” Broad told the Telegraph.

“It’s crucial that we don’t get to Edgbaston still hung over or fearing what happened at Lord’s. We need to be quite clear that we performed badly, but this is a new week.”

Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson finished with match figures of six for 80 at Lord’s but the 29-year-old Broad believes England were at fault for the manner of the dismissals.

“In the first innings especially, the 10 wickets we lost, they weren’t good balls,” he said.

“We gave them 10 wickets, and in test match cricket you’ve got to make teams work hard for their wickets.”

England have brought in batsman Jonny Bairstow to replace his Yorkshire team mate Gary Ballance in the only change to their squad for the Edgbaston test.

Ian Bell moves up the order to bat at number three, followed by Joe Root, with Bairstow coming in at five.

“I think when we get to Edgbaston you’ll see a very determined, steely, skilful batting line-up for England,” Broad said. “I think it’ll be a big change from Lord’s.”

Broad is confident playing the third test at Edgbaston in Birmingham and the fourth test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham will play into England’s hands.

“Let’s not forget that Edgbaston and Trent Bridge are two fantastic grounds for the England cricket team,” he said.

“We should have a lot of confidence. The last test I played at Edgbaston, Cooky (Alastair Cook) got 294 (against India in 2011) and we won by an innings.

“It’s a huge week. I read somewhere that England haven’t won the third Ashes Test since 1981, which has got to change.

“A lot has been written this week about it being the end of the world, like we’re losing 10-0.

“But actually, it’s 1-1. They’ve played fantastically one week, we’ve played fantastically one week. Let battle commence.”