Since Brendon McCullum became England’s red-ball head coach and partnered with captain Ben Stokes, the Three Lions have preferred flat decks for home Tests. Because they bat ultra-aggressively and score quickly on flat pitches, they can terrify the opposition.
This strategy failed in the second Test at Edgbaston against India in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. The first Test hitter to score a double century and 150 in a match was Indian skipper Shubman Gill. Tourists won by 336 runs.
Shubman scored 585 runs in his first four innings on the England tour. Mitchell Starc, who is playing a three-match Test series in the West Indies, claimed he wouldn’t bowl to Shubman on such unresponsive grounds. The left-arm bowler believes young England cricketers won’t want to focus on bowling if surfaces remain beneficial for batsmen.
Definitely wouldn’t bowl to him in England.
Scorecards were all I saw of the game. Marnus, Alex Carey, and Steve Smith would watch the game at a coffee machine after waking up. Viewed the scores. What England child would want to bowl on those wickets. However, all accounts say it was sub-continental, which I find hard to believe, Starc stated on the Willow Talk Podcast (via Indian Express).
Australia met South Africa in the Lord’s World Test Championship (WTC) final last month. Bowlers relished bowling on the surface as wickets dropped in clumps on the opening two days before batsmen improved. The third Test between India and England at the same location is played on a wicket that doesn’t help bowlers.
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