Ashes: Joe Root has no regrets over team or toss in Gabba defeat and believes England must remain ‘brave’

Joe Root declared he had no regrets over his decisions in selection and at the toss for England’s opening Ashes defeat to Australia at the Gabba, and believes he must continue to make “brave” calls if his team are to get back into he series.

Having edged England back into the game in a partnership with Dawid Malan, Root was one of the wickets to fall during a dramatic collapse on the fourth morning that led to a nine-wicket defeat.

England had been behind the game from the very first ball when, after Root opted to bat first, Rory Burns was bowled by Mitchell Starc for a golden duck. England were dismissed for 147 under slate skies, before Australia racked up 425.

Root has been criticised for exposing his meek batting lineup by opting to bat first, and leaving out both James Anderson and Stuart Broad – who have more than 1,100 Test wickets between them – from their attack.

Root put England’s defeat down to their poor batting on the opening day and inability to hold chances; in a sloppy fielding day, David Warner was dropped, survived a run out chance and bowled off a no-ball in the course of his 94.

“I think batting first was the right decision,” said Root. “If you look at how the wicket has unfolded… I think being 40 for four makes it not look like it’s the case and credit to Australia to exploit those conditions.

“If we had got even 250 in that first innings and the game looks very different altogether. So no, I look back at the toss and I think I would do the same thing and speaking to Pat [Cummins] he would have done the same thing as well. He would have batted first. So I’m not too worried about that.

“In terms of selection, I wanted a balanced attack. I wanted to be able to change the momentum of the game and we went with the spinner.”

Root would not elaborate on how he plans to set up his side for the day-nighter in Adelaide, but said he would continue to be brave in a bid for England’s first win in Australia since January 2011.

“Absolutely,” he said. “If we go about things exactly as we have on the last two tours, we’re going to get the same results. We have to be brave, we have to look to do things differently to previous tours. I look back on the toss – I think it was the right decision. We just didn’t play well enough in the first innings. We get some sort of score on the board, you saw how that wicket started to behave today – you’re looking at a very different contest.”

Jack Leach, who was selected ahead of Anderson and Broad, was dealt with particularly harshly by Australia (especially David Warner and Travis Head), with his 13 overs costing 102. Root blamed himself for Leach’s struggles.

“Credit to Australia, they took on Leachy,” he said. “He had to bowl on that wicket at its worst. I probably put quite a lot of that on myself being slightly too aggressive with his fields early on. It didn’t let him get back get into the series and into the game. It made it very difficult for him from that point onwards. So, it’s probably more on my shoulders there and how I managed him rather than looking at the selection of how we went about things he just want.”

Both sides came into the series underprepared, but Australia’s experience of the conditions and excellent bowling attack saw them take no time to adapt. He said the defeat had helped England get up to speed, and they would be “better for it” when the Second Test, a day-nighter, begins in Adelaide on Thursday.

“We're in the series, we've not had that going into it so we'll be better for it,” he said. “We've got something to work on for guys who haven't experienced it before, they know what's coming now and the challenge they face. We have to be ready. Sometimes the game coming around straight away is what you need, to get back out there and put things right.”