Joe Root and Ben Stokes urge England heroes to complete dream double by adding The Ashes to World Cup win
JOE ROOT and Ben Stokes urged their team-mates to land a dream double — by reclaiming The Ashes.
The majority of England’s World Cup winners face Australia in the First Test in just 16 days.
Test captain Root said: “Winning both would be the pinnacle. It’s what we have set out to do for the last two to three years — and we are halfway there.”
And Stokes, named man of the match for his batting heroics in Sunday’s Lord’s final against New Zealand, roared: “We may be world champions but we also want to be Ashes winners as well.
“Everyone deserves to feel like a champion but when it comes to the Ashes it’s going to be ‘heads on’ because it has to be.”
Root, 28, insists the confidence surging through Trevor Bayliss’ side will be a big benefit against the Aussies, who won the last series 4-0 Down Under in 2017-18.
And the batsman reckons the way England annihilated Australia in last week’s Edgbaston semi-final will stand them in good stead for the First Test at the same ground.
Root, who enjoyed a special celebration with his team-mates at The Oval yesterday, said: “We couldn’t be in a better place, really.
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“The confidence this will give the guys to take into a series like that is huge.
“Especially the way we’ve played against Australia at Edgbaston in that semi, the guys involved will relish that and want more of that.
“The feeling of euphoria we felt at that ground and Lord’s in the final . . . to experience all that again is very exciting.”