England has announced their playing XI for the 4th test match which will commence on Wednesday. Despite a horrible show in the first three tests, England resisted the temptation to make too many changes in the final XI. The visitors made one change as Stuart Broad makes a return in place of Ollie Robinson.
England batting coach Graham Thorpe has confirmed on Tuesday that Ollie Robinson and Chris Woakes would not be available for the 4th Test match as both of them are carrying some niggles. Ollie Robinson is England’s highest wicket so far in the series as he picked 9 wickets with an average of 26.
Stuart Broad played only one Test match in this series.
“We felt like it was too much of a risk to go in with a couple of lads who are carrying niggles, So, therefore, it was right to bring Stuart back in,” Graham Thorpe said.
Earlier in the Stuart Broad showed his disappointment for missing out on two more suited surfaces for his bowling. So far Broad played the only test in this series as he picked 2 wickets in the pink ball Test at Adelaide.
“As a wobble-seam bowler, I feel as though I missed out on two of the best wobble-seam pitches (Brisbane and Melbourne) in Australia. Only playing once has made this a very disappointing trip, one that has not met my personal expectations,” Stuart Broad wrote in his column for Dailymail.
However, batting coach Graham Thorpe backed him to turn things around in Sydney. Thorpe referred Broad and Stokes as their caged tigers. Stokes also had a poor series so far as the left-hander scored only 101 runs in 6 innings so far and picked only 4 wickets with an average of 62.25.
“We’ve got a couple of caged tigers coming into this match, Ben being one of them, and Stuart Broad is another one, I want them to be able to perform to the best of their ability, and seeing them in training that’s what I’m seeing,” Thorpe said.
The stand-in head coach also backed Joe Root & Co. to put a better show in the 4th Test.
“I’m hopeful that our boys will get their minds absolutely right for tomorrow. I feel that they are in a good place,” he said.
England (Playing XI): Haseeb Hameed, Zak Crawley, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (c), Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Mark Wood, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad, James Anderson