In the first Ashes match, Australia countered England’s “Bazball” approach, which is a style devised by Coach Brendon McCullum and adopted to great effect by the team. The Aussies registered their win by two wickets, after which England’s decision to declare during the first innings with two wickets still in hand was highly criticized by many. On the fourth day, England lost their wickets too early and gave Australia the target of just 281 runs for the Win.
England didn’t perform well during second innings
In the second innings, England’s batsman Joe Root was stumped out by Australian spinner Nathon Lyon after scoring 46 runs off 55 balls, and the rest of the batsmen made a good start but failed to extend. Recently, in a news conference, England’s batsman Ollie Pope stated, “I know it can look like moments of madness sometimes, but the decisions made are well thought out with a view to the end goal.
“Decisions are well considered”- Ollie
“These decisions are not taken in haste, they are well considered, and Senior players talk about them in the changing room. We make a group decision and support it 100%. Once a decision is taken, there is no looking back. The second match at Lords will be crucial for us because another defeat will hang England’s hopes of regaining the Ashes in the balance, and they will suffer their first home series loss to Australia since 2001.
When Ollie was asked if England would declare early again, he said, “We could find ourselves in a similar situation this week. Who knows? That’s what Ben and Baz (Brendon McCullum) are good at. They understand the conditions very well”. If there is a decision like on the first day at Edgbaston, we will talk consistently during this test match.
The batsman updated about Moeen Ali
He further said “Lords is basically a seamer-friendly pitch, but spin is likely to come into play, as was the case at Edgbaston”. Pope updated about Moen Ali too, who injured his finger during Australia’s second innings of the first test. He took one wicket but as his pain increased Joe Root replaced him. “Now he is fine and hopefully fit to play; I faced him in the nets on Monday,” said Pope. The second test of Ashes 2023 begins tomorrow , this match will be important for England as they need to make a comeback in the series after losing the first match.
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