Ashes 2015: Stuart Broad says England are still hopeful of avoiding the follow-on
Friday 17 July 2015 21:37, UK
Stuart Broad thinks a ‘mental switch-off’ from England on day two of the second Investec Ashes Test at Lord’s has allowed Australia to take command.
However, the in-form paceman remains hopeful that the hosts can avoid the follow-on, as the wicket still appears to be playing pretty well.
Having spent a long time in the field while Australia racked up 566-8 before declaring, England slumped to 30-4 when they finally got a chance to bat.
However, they regrouped towards the end of the day and captain Alastair Cook (21 not out) and Ben Stokes (38 not out) took them to 85-4 at stumps.
And Broad, who had earlier finished with 4-83 as his good bowling form continued, said the fifth-wicket stand had given the England team plenty of heart.
Asked by Sky Sports what the mood was in the dressing room, Broad said: “Brighter after the application that Cooky and Stokesy (Ben Stokes) showed at the end.
“It's given the guys a lot of hope that there's not too many demons in this wicket.
"Australia batted well and anyone who's played a lot of cricket or watched a lot of cricket will realise that, if you've been in the field for that length of time, there's always tricky periods.
"It was probably a mental switch-off for 20 minutes that hurt us with those four wickets.
“We probably didn't switch to the game plan that we talked about and just mentally switched off for a period of time, which in Test match cricket you can't afford to do.
"As soon as Cooky and Stokesy showed their steel, it's begun to look a bit slow and flat again.
"We're hoping for blue skies tomorrow and we have a clear job, which is to avoid the follow-on.
"If we do that, Australia will have to bat again, and that takes a lot of time out of the game.
"We've got 16 wickets left in the Test match, so I certainly expect a couple of big hundreds in there at some stage."
Australia’s highly rated pace attack were impressive as England struggled initially and Broad added: “They bowled really well tonight.
"When you've got a lot of scoreboard pressure and 30 overs to bowl, you can fly in for one spell.”
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