LONDON, (Reuters) – Joe Root said England will be unchanged for the second test against South Africa beginning today at Trent Bridge, where he expects his seam bowlers make a greater contribution than in the series opener last week.
Moeen Ali was the star of the England bowling attack in the first test victory at Lord’s, taking 10 wickets in a test match for the first time. He was well supported by fellow spinner Liam Dawson, but seamers took just six wickets in both South African innings combined.
England’s pacemen bowled just ten overs between them in the tourist’s second innings, but Root expects Mark Wood, James Anderson, Ben Stokes and Stuart Broad to have more of an impact this time around.
“We’re going in with the same team,” Root said on Thursday as his side look to build on their 1-0 lead in a four-match series. “It gives us a great balance if spin does come into it later in the game, but it might be that our seamers play a bigger part this week and that excites me. When they get the opportunity they’ll still be pretty fresh coming into the second innings later on in this game.”
Broad has particularly fond memories of England’s last visit to Trent Bridge – where Broad also plays his county cricket – as Australia were skittled out for just 60 in 2015, with Broad starring, taking 8-15.
“We’ve got great memories of here, and Stuart’s excited for another opportunity to bowl on his home ground,” Root said.
“We’ve played some good cricket here in the last four or five years, and we want to make sure that continues this week.”
England lead the four-test series 1-0 with matches at The Oval and Old Trafford set to follow the Trent Bridge contest.
