England Prepare For Redemption In 2nd Ashes Test This Week

England will feel the pressure heading into the second Ashes test at Lord’s which takes place form August 14 to 18. They had two great opportunities in the first test to crush Australia but they took their foot off the gas and allowed Australia to fight back and win the test.

Before the 5 match Ashes test series could start, England were the betting favourites with legitgambling.com and the bookmakers.

After a poor showing in the first test, the loss of James Anderson due to injury and the imperious form of Steven Smith, bookmakers now give Australia odds of 3.75 to win the first test with England at 4.35 and the possibility of a draw at 1.80.

The quick shift with bookmakers is understandable given the pressure that comes from playing in an Ashes series. England are playing at home and instead of going in with confidence of home conditions and crowd support, they will feel immense pressure to start the second test on the right foot and put Australia under the hammer.

England need to desperately win the second test as a 2-0 deficit is really hard to recover form as it would require England to win three consecutive tests to take the series.

Changes To Playing Eleven

England is set to make a couple of changes to their playing eleven for the second test. One of those changes is a forced change as the injury to Jimmy Anderson ruled him out for the second test and quite possible the entire series. England are set to give the 24 year old Jofra Archer his test debut and a lot will rest on his young shoulders.

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Archer was the star bowler for England during the 2019 ICC World Cup victory. He has both the pace and accuracy to be a big threat in test cricket and England will be counting on him to deliver in the absence of the experienced Anderson. J Archer played down those expectations by asking the public to not expect any miracles for him in his test debut.

The second change is also in the bowling department as England has decided to replace M Ali with left arm spinner Jack Leach. The selectors are likely to retain the same batting line-up as the first test although there have been calls to drop Joe Denly and replace him with bowling all-rounder Sam Curran.