England currently lead 1-0 in the prestigious Ashes series after defeating Australia in the first Test at Cardiff. But their record of late does not seem to enthuse confidence that they will be able to sustain the momentum.
Earlier this year, playing against New Zealand, England lost the second Test match after taking a 1-0 lead in the first Test. A similar outcome was witnessed in their tour of West Indies, where England won the second Test and lost the next Test to draw the series level.
Such record will give Australia the much-needed confidence ahead of the second Test, says England bowler Stuart Broad.
"This group of players won in the Caribbean (and) lost the next one, then won at Lord's and lost at Headingley (against New Zealand)," AFP quoted Broad as saying.
"We've got a huge amount of motivation to put those results right."
"Having been in a team who have lost the first Test and are all up for winning the next one, if a team comes out and just hits you straight away with skill it can be quite deflating. So we need to start well."
Hence, the England team are going to be cautious when they meet Australia at Lord's for the second Test match, where the Aussies are expected to come hard at them.
England will be eager to avoid a defeat after taking 1-0 lead in the series.
The Australian cricket team, who are not used to losing, will try to correct their performance with both the bat and the ball. They were simply outplayed in all departments of the game by England, who will be eager to come up with a repeat performance and take a 2-0 lead.
England are once again set to depend on the batting exploits of Joe Root, who scored an incredible hundred in the first innings of the Test match at Cardiff, which set the stage for an English win.
His performance in the second innings was also top class, where he scored a comfortable 60 runs. Hence, the Australian bowlers must come prepared with a strategy to dismiss Root quickly.
Australia will require their key bowler Mitchell Starc, currently on top form, to make life tougher for the English batsmen. Starc was not comfortable in the first Test while bowling as he had suffered an ankle injury during the game.
Starc was not at his best and his performance will prove to be a major factor at Lord's. Apart from Starc, their batsmen such as David Warner, Steve Smith and Michael Clarke need to convert their good starts into big centuries, if they are determined to win the second Test.
