Root fires up team as 3 Lions play for pride

Ahmedabad, November 3

Joe Root has attempted to rally England with fighting words ahead of their World Cup clash against Australia, calling his team a better outfit “man for man” despite being last in the standings.

Jos Buttler’s England have only a mathematical chance of making the semifinals and a loss to their Ashes rivals will end their title defence.

Australia, meanwhile, sit third and are in ominous form after four consecutive wins. Root said England, however, should be top of the table with the quality in their squad, and the players were “all very frustrated that wasn’t the case.”

“Man for man, I’d have this team every day over the Australians,” Root said. “We might not have played as well as we can do but we know when we play our best stuff, the best teams struggle to compete with us. We’ve just got to look at Saturday as our final and play in the manner that’s expected of us.” — Reuters