Former English cricketer Kevin Pitersen has criticized Australia for their defensive approach on the ongoing Day 1 of the first Ashes Test 2023 at Edgbaston in Birmingham. He said those led by Pat Cummins went straight to plan B and he doesn’t think they can attack anymore now.
England have impressed many with their approach to Bazball on the first day of the ongoing Edgbaston technique. Despite losing wickets at regular intervals, they continued to attack Australia’s bowling line-up and maintained a run rate of around 5.
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England scored 124 runs in the first session and then followed up with another 116-run session. What was impressive was that even though they lost wickets, they did not take a back seat and kept pressing the bowlers.
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Kevin Pietersen believes that Australia set the pitches based on pre-series talk and have erred in their approach. Speaking to the broadcasters, he said:
“You feel like Australia have set up camps based on the pre-series talk. Much has been made about England’s approach. Australia has been wrong. But from an English perspective, it’s great to see Australia so defensive.”
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Ashes 2023: “Now they can’t set up attacking camps,” says Kevin Pietersen of Australia
Kevin Pietersen went on to say that he backed Australia to continue attacking fields on Day 1, but it seemed they went straight to plan B. He explained:
“The rotation of the strike. It is very short. A lot of those reverse sweeps, we’ve seen. The field is set up for it. I would have thought that on the first morning of an Ashes series, Pat Cummins would have said ‘okay England, give it a try’. Get us 6 fours, give us 7 fours, give us a couple sixes, no problem.’
“I think they went straight to plan B. Where are they going? Now they can’t set attack ranges. They have used their spinner early. The goalkeeper went up, the goalkeeper is back. Where they go now? What is plan C, what is plan D?” He concluded.
Also read: Ashes 2023: “The only way to beat Australia is to go into combat mode and attack” – Kevin Pietersen
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