England’s Test captain, Joe Root has asked his squad to brace themselves for a tough fight in the upcoming Ashes series against Australia. With the absence of Ben Stokes being a major concerning factor the Englishmen, inexperienced batting is adding up to their troubles with niggles to Steve Finn and Moeen Ali.

However, Root is confident that the ghosts of last Ashes’ loss in Australia will be buried as England will put up a much-improved performance. He said, “It’s a great opportunity for guys to stand up. When they do get a chance, they need to take it. It’s got to be a squad effort. We are going to have to play well as a squad and show a lot of character. There can’t be any selfish mentality out in the middle. It’s got to be about doing a job as a team and not worry about individual performances.”

Talking about the series in 2013, Root said, “There has been a lot of talk about last time, but we are a completely different side and so are they. Of course, they will try to bring up stuff like that but we’ve played since then and against them (in 2015 in England) which went quite well for us.”

Addressing the absence of Ben Stokes and the appointment of a new vice-captain, English captain said, “Hopefully in the next week or so, when we get into the two four-day matches. It will be nice to get it nailed down by then. With the experience around the dressing room, we help each other out.”

Root concluded by expressing the feeling of playing in Australia, he said, “Whenever you play an opposition in Australia, you are not expecting an easy ride. It is going to be competitive and we are going to approach it like we approach any other game. They will want to prove a point against an international team. For us, it’s about grabbing our opportunities.”