England captain Joe Root dismissed Nathan Lyon's accusations:
England
skipper Joe Root said Australia are putting themselves under pressure by few blunt
comments before the start of first Test, he coolly dismissed offensive remarks
by Australia bowler Nathan Lyon.
Joe Root will play his ninth Test as England captain tomorrow at Brisbane
Joe
Root said that Nathan’s comments were “out of character” after the spinner said
that Aussies hoped to terminate careers of some of the England players.
"That's
not how I'd want my players to go about things... it's slightly out of
character,"
"Whether
it's maybe a team strategy or he's just taken it upon himself to do that — who
knows? The more guys talk going into a series, the more they put pressure on
themselves."
Nathan
said that England suffered 5-0 defeat during their tour of Australia in
2013-2014, accusing wicket keeper Matt Prior being “scared”. David Warner also
said that playing against England was like “war”.
Australia
captain Steve Smith said that their pace bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh
Hazzlewood & Pat Cummins will replicate the damage done by Mitchell Johnson
who grabbed 37 wickets in the 2013-14 Ashes series.
England
captain said Australia spin trio would be “feeling the heat” as they will be playing
their first Ashes series at home bearing a heavy weight of anticipation.
"The
three are very talented cricketers and they've done some good stuff for
Australia in the past," Joe Root said.
"But
for all three of them it's their first Ashes series in Australia and I'm sure
they will be feeling the heat.
"There's
been a lot of noise and comparisons made about them and they've got to go and
try and replicate that.
"A
lot of the guys have played these blokes before and know what they bring to the
table and are very well prepared as to what to expect from them.
"We've
just got to trust our games, trust all the work we've done and give them as
little as possible."
Australia
are pretty confident that they would not lose at Brisbane as England have not
beaten them on that venue since 1988. But England skipper hoped to seize a
surprise initiative in the opening Test.
"I
think we're about due, aren't we?" Root said.
"It's
the reason why Australia play the first Test of a series here all the time,
they've got such a good record playing here.
"But
if we can go one-up in the series here then it really upsets the apple cart and
it could give us a lot of momentum going into the rest of the Tests."
26
year old Joe Root will lead his team for the first time in Ashes series &
tomorrow will be his 9th Test as captain.
"I'm
actually surprised how calm I am," he said. "I am sure tomorrow
morning there will be a few little nerves flying about, but that's natural
going into any series, especially an Ashes series.
"The
best thing is that I feel ready, I feel really prepared. I have full confidence
in this group of players and that's why I feel so relaxed going into it.
"We
have to read the situation quickly out in the middle and play the surface and
control our emotions, if we do that then we'll give ourselves a really good
chance."
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