Nasser Hussain, a former England captain, was very critical of the team led by Ben Stokes on the first day of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s. He said they didn’t show enough emotion and energy.
Australia got off to a great start, scoring 339 runs while losing only five wickets. On Day 1 of the second Ashes Test, David Warner (66), Travis Head (77), and Steve Smith (85*) all hit half-centuries as Australia had fun against England’s bowling attack.
Hussain said that even though England won the toss, they were slow and their bowling wasn’t very good. None of the five seam bowlers were fast enough, and they didn’t use bouncers to mix things up. Also, they were bad at catching, and they dropped some catches. Hussain wrote in his Daily Mail piece that there was no spark.
“Why was there such a rush? During the Just Stop Oil protest, there was a lot of talking, and when it started to rain, they moved upstairs and stayed there while the Australian hitters waited on the steps at the bottom of the pavilion.
“If the umpires call you back in those wet conditions, you want to be racing on as a fielding team and bowling as much as you can,” he wrote in his piece.
Nasser Hussain praised pacer Josh Tongue, calling him the best bowler on an otherwise bad day for England. He said that Josh’s performance was one of the few bright spots on what was otherwise a bad day at the office for the English team.
Josh Tongue was England’s best quick bowler on the day. He bowled two great balls that got rid of both of Australia’s openers, giving him a final score of 2 for 88.
“Tongue’s quick bowling got David Warner out from around the wicket. It was a brave choice to play Josh Tongue on a green top wicket when they could have just as easily picked Chris Woakes, a good all-around player who has done well at this venue. But it was one of the few good things England did in a game where they were usually not very good,” Hussain said.
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