England batsman Ollie Pope said his team will not abandon their attacking style of batting despite a two-wicket defeat in the opening Ashes Test.
Australia seemed to be playing catch-up throughout the Edgbaston Test but the home team's cavalier attitude while batting meant the world champions remained in the hunt.
Ben Stokes's team surprisingly declared on the opening day on 393 and continued to play aggressively rather than bat the Aussies out of contention in the second innings.
England's best batsman Joe Root was stumped charging down the pitch at Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon having scored 46 from 55 balls in the second innings and other batsmen made good starts but failed to cash in.
However, Pope has full faith in the process, even if the result did not go their way.
“I know sometimes it can look like it's just moments of madness but all the decisions that are made are well thought out with a vision of the end goal,” Pope said.
“These decisions aren't just a rash thought. They are well thought out and spoken about by senior players in the changing room. We come to a group decision and back that decision 100 per cent. There's no looking back on that decision once it's made.”
Another defeat at Lord's would leave England's hopes of reclaiming the Ashes hanging by a thread and facing a first home series defeat by Australia since 2001.
“We might find ourselves in a similar situation this week, who knows? That's what Stokesy and Baz [coach Brendon McCullum] are very good at, they read conditions very well,” Pope said of whether England could again declare early.
“We'll talk consistently throughout this Test match, if there's a decision like the first day at Edgbaston.
One player England will keep a close eye on is Moeen Ali. The returning off-spinner put in a marathon effort in the first game but skin on his bowling finger was damaged to such a degree, he was finding it difficult to bowl the ball.
England have called up 18-year-old leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed as cover, or could recall fast bowler Mark Wood and lean on Root's part-time off-breaks.
