After one match of the men’s Ashes 2023, Australia can get the best of both worlds when it comes to Bazball. They can laud their ambitions while England do much of the combative talking, knowing the score reads 1-0 to Australia heading to Lord’s and vowing there is much better to come from them than was shown at Edgbaston.
Such were the thin margins in the opening Test that any number of small moments could be regarded as evidence of the difference, the last of which was a very difficult missed chance by Ben Stokes with 37 runs still needed. In the end, Pat
Cummins and Nathan Lyon led them to a famous victory, but the batting in particular has room for improvement with the notable exception of Usman Khawaja and an honorable mention for Alex Carey, the only two Australians to pass fifty in the Proof. .
Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith top the list of where there is an expectation of far greater returns, who made just 35 starts between them at Edgbaston. There is also a strong possibility that Mitchell Starc will replace Scott Boland, who was almost six years old.
“I really enjoy the way you [England] play, I’m not going to lie,” Labuschagne said. “As a cricket watcher who watched the series before, I loved it. I think it’s exciting, it’s entertaining, it’s good to watch, but at the end of the day, we played well below what I think is the standard for our team.
“The idea was how are they going to do it against our bowlers and they showed they can do it, but with a wicket they could have a bit more.” [at Lord’s]what will it look like? We came out of the first Test 1-0 up and that’s a positive sign for us because I don’t think we played our best.”
England unsurprisingly vowed to attack further, with Stuart Broad the latest to proclaim the “go harder” approach to follow up on Ollie Robinson’s claims that Australia were “unwilling to go toe to toe” and opinion of Zak Crawley that England will win. at Lord’s for 150 runs.
The home side certainly set the tone at Edgbaston, scoring more than five over on the first day before Stokes’ surprise statement, but it was an extraordinary start to day four, with Joe Root failing to connect for a first. Reverse ball and then sending Boland for a six a short time later, that was the most extravagant period of play.
However, Labuschagne felt that Root’s approach kept Australia in the game and he duly edged out Lyon’s one for 46, to follow up an unbeaten 118 on the opening day, as neither England batsman reached fifty on the opening day. second entry.
“The way he’s hitting I think is exquisite … I’m just talking about when he’s hitting normally, I think he’s playing very well,” Labuschagne said. “I think from my perspective, him playing that method and those [reverse] shots keep us in the game.
“I use that second inning as an example. He probably had an opportunity to shut us out and take the game away completely. But the method and the way he played kept us in the game. He played an amazing inning, but he ended up getting 40 [46] and if you make that over 80, we’re chasing 300 and that’s going to be a lot of effort.
“So I think that’s the benefit to us from the way they play. They’re playing aggressive cricket and he’s doing it with a different method, which is great, but it gives us other opportunities. Hopefully at some point in the series, that will continue to pay off.”
