England not in the pink

JOE Root has warned his England side cannot rely on the pink ball to work miracles as they look to launch their Ashes fightback under lights at the Adelaide Oval.

Disappointment over the nine-wicket defeat in the first Test at Brisbane has been consigned to history, with the tourists plotting their way back into the series in last night’s day/night clash in South Australia.

“For us it’s about not falling into the trap of thinking it’s going to hoop round corners for five days,” said Root.

“One thing from our point of view is not overthinking that part of it.

“It is about understanding the different challenges that a pink ball Test at this ground takes and having plenty of options to still find ways of taking 20 wickets. There will be two sessions where the sun can be out and it might not do as much.

“Also as a batting group, we need to be managing those different phases and finding ways to get through.”

England are likely to keep faith with the top seven that largely underperformed at

The Gabba, where only Joe Root and Dawid Malan made half-centuries, but will be thinking hard about the make-up of their bowling line-up. Record wicket-taker Anderson is a certainty to make the XI having been passed fully fit for action, but whether he will be joined by Broad remains to be seen. It could be that Ben Stokes holds the key.

He was short of full match fitness on his first competitive appearance in five months, aggravated an old knee complaint and generally appeared to lack rhythm with the ball.

If England are not convinced he can take a full share of the load this time, they would compensate by picking four specialist seamers and sacrificing Jack Leach’s spin.