Ashes 2023: England and Australia to stick to their guns in second Test | Cricket News – Times of India

England came close to triumph as they had their long-standing rivals reeling at eight wickets down, requiring 54 runs for victory, only to be thwarted by an unbroken partnership between Australia captain Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon.England’s cause was not aided by their poor fielding, which resulted in several missed opportunities.
However, the focus soon shifted to their aggressive ‘Bazball’ approach, despite this being only their third defeat in 14 Tests since captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum joined forces last year.
Several former England internationals, including Geoffrey Boycott, suggested that Stokes’s team had been overly bold in Birmingham, particularly with their declaration at 393-8 on the first day.
Nevertheless, Australia, as the World Test champions, have no guarantee that a more conventional approach would have yielded greater success. After all, it was during a period of such traditional play that England won just one out of 17 Tests before Stokes took over as red-ball captain.

England seamer Ollie Robinson’s comment that Australia will need to “adapt their approach to match ours” following a lost Test may seem irksome. However, as former England captain Mike Brearley once wrote, “you cannot expect a tortoise to leap like a gazelle,” and it might be unreasonable to demand a radical departure from a strategy that has served the current team well.
Vice-captain Ollie Pope stated that there is more to the team’s tactics than meets the eye.
“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 insisted at Lord’s on Tuesday.
The primary concern for England arguably resides in their team selection.
Off-spinner Moeen Ali, enticed out of retirement for red-ball cricket at Edgbaston, predictably sustained a finger injury on a bowling hand unaccustomed to extended spells.

As a precautionary measure, England have included teenage leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed as cover. Additionally, they might rely on captain Root’s part-time off-spin to facilitate the return of the pacey Mark Wood to the lineup.
Australia, too, faces a decision on whether to recall Mitchell Starc. The left-arm fast bowler was omitted from the Edgbaston Test. England specifically targeted Scott Boland, typically a frugal seam bowler, who conceded runs at an unusually high rate of 5.65 per over.
“Just because they (England) are scoring at a higher rate or trying to score at a higher rate doesn’t mean you go to one-day cricket,” said Starc after a win built on Australia opener Usman Khawaja’s painstaking hundred.
“There are plenty of ways to skin a cat as we saw last week in the way they approached it as opposed to the way we did.”

Australia will be eager for their star batters, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, who only managed a combined total of 35 runs at Edgbaston, to rediscover their form.
However, there are no concerns about off-spinner Nathan Lyon, as he is set to make his 100th consecutive Test appearance, following an impressive eight-wicket haul that brought him within five wickets of the remarkable 500 mark at this level.
Securing an Ashes series victory in England remains a highly coveted achievement for Australia, particularly considering the close call they experienced during the 2019 campaign, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
Mitchell Starc, still uncertain about his participation at Lord’s just two days after his wife, Alyssa Healy, led Australia to victory in the solitary Women’s Ashes Test at Trent Bridge, is well aware of the significance of the upcoming match.

“It is a chance to go 2-0 up,” said the 33-year-old. “It is not lost on us the opportunity we do have.
“For some of us it is our fourth trip here and coming off the back of ’19, where we retained the Ashes but missed out on winning, the carrot is certainly there.”