Joe Root has hit back at his friend Michael Vaughan after the former England skipper said today’s team lacked respect for Test cricket.
Root tasted defeat for the first time as England skipper on Monday after South Africa completed a 340-run win at Trent Bridge, bowling out England for 133 in their second innings, with four-and-a-half sessions to spare.
The Investec Series is level at 1-1 with two matches to play but Root was clearly upset when he learned of Vaughan’s remarks. Vaughan told the BBC: “The England batting has been appalling. Maybe it's a lack of respect about what the game is. They look like they are playing a Twenty20 game.”
Both Root and Vaughan grew up in the Sheffield area, with Root idolising Vaughan as a youngster. The pair are part of the same management company and speak regularly – as they will surely do again in the near future.
Root said: “I think that's very unfair - I can't believe he's actually said that to be honest. We pride ourselves on winning series like this and unfortunately we've played poorly this week but the most important thing now is to respond well and make sure we put it right at The Oval.”
The Third Test starts on July 27 and the selectors will meet this week to discuss the squad, which is likely to be named at the weekend.
Struggling batsman Gary Ballance will have an X-ray on the index finger of his left hand after it was struck by a lifting delivery from Morne Morkel.
Along with opener Keaton Jennings, Ballance is one of the batsmen under pressure. In total, England batted for only 96.1 overs in the match. Root added: “We didn't assess the situation well enough in the first innings and then from that we couldn't find a way to get back into the game.
“The way we played was very disappointing. We don’t like giving anything away and today wasn’t a fair representation of how good we are.”
