Former England captain Michael Vaughan named his ideal England playing XI ahead of the second Ashes Test match against Australia. He suggested quite a few changes England need to make if they want to turn things around.
Meanwhile, Jack Leach is all set to replace Moeen Ali, while Jofra Archer is in line for his debut in place of the injured James Anderson. Vaughan felt that England should play young all-rounder Sam Curran ahead of Joe Denly. He also advised Ben Stokes to bat at No. 4 in order to avoid further batting woes.
“Sam Curran has to come in for Joe Denly. He offers another bowling option and England need as many choices as possible in a series like this because Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes have already bowled a lot of overs this summer. By adding Curran it will lessen their workload and I think he offers as many runs with the bat in two innings as Denly. Woakes has to play. He is like the joker at Lord’s. He always does well there,” Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph.
Australia won the first Ashes test by a massive margin of 251 runs after skittling out England for just 146 in the second innings on the last day.
Credit to off-spinner Nathan Lyon’s 6-49, and star batsman Steve Smith’s back-to-back centuries that helped Australia crush England on their home soil.
Vaughan asked England to put on their thinking caps in order to bounce back and avenge the humiliating defeat at Edgbaston.
“It is about the whole package. You are picking a cricketer at Lord’s who could have a say across four innings. I would back Curran to produce something in those four innings. Denly is easy on the eye. He is a decent player but at 33 is he the right style of player we need to get this Test match team back on track?” Vaughan added.
Michael Vaughan’s playing XI: Rory Burns, Jason Roy, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Jason Archer, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach.
England and Australia will lock horns at Lord’s on Wednesday, August 14.
