PERTH: Two-nil down and with a harried captain insisting his team was neither dead nor buried, there was an unnerving sense of deja vu at the Waca as England made their final preparations on the eve of the third Ashes Test on Wednesday.
Four years on from the last doomed trip to Western Australia, Joe Root led a mostly different set of players through their drills under a big Perth sky while facing the same unenviable predicament as his predecessor Alastair Cook.
The good weather did little to ease a feeling of foreboding surrounding Root’s team, one that also weighed on Cook’s England before their meek surrender in 2013-14. The tourists need a draw to keep the five-match series alive before they head to Melbourne, but holders England have not managed one in over 30 years at the Waca, where they have lost their past seven Tests in succession.
Root’s rallying cry might prove just as futile but on Wednesday, at least, the young captain was adamant his team was better equipped than Cook’s to pull off something “special”. “I think we’re in a much better place this time round if I’m being brutally honest,” said Root, who was a 22-year-old middle order rookie during the 5-0 whitewash of 2013-14. “The guys have got a really clear idea of where they want to go and how they’re going to look to play.
“I’m not sure that was quite the same the last time round. I think we were a bit more shell-shocked about how things had turned out.”
— Reuters
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