3 things England need to do right to bounce back on Day 2 of Lord's Ashes Test
England had a forgettable outing at Lord's on the first day of the second Ashes Test match. Ben Stokes won the toss and opted to bowl first. The decision has seemingly backfired as Australia have raced to 339/5 in 83 overs by the end of day one.
David Warner played a magnificent innings of 66 runs off 88 balls, followed by half-centuries from Steven Smith and Travis Head in the middle-order. Like the ICC World Test Championship Final 2023 against India, Smith and Head tormented the opposition bowlers by scoring runs at a quick rate on the opening day.
Head lost his wicket after scoring 77 runs off just 73 deliveries, but Smith is still unbeaten on 85 off 149. Wicket-keeper batter Alex Carey joined Smith in the middle by the end of the first day.
In this article now, we will look at the three things which England should do right in order to bounce back on Day 2 of the second Ashes Test match.
#1 England should bowl more overs of spin on Day 2
Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum surprised all when they decided against naming a frontline spinner in their playing XI for the second Ashes Test. The home team entered Lord's with four specialist fast bowlers and a pace-bowling all-rounder in Stokes.
When the pacers could not live up to the expectations, Stokes handed the ball to part-time spinner Joe Root, who bagged two wickets in the space of five balls. Root dismissed the well-set Travis Head stumped, and three balls later, Cameron Green handed a catch to James Anderson off Root's bowling.
Both Ollie Robinson and Ben Stokes have bowled spin in the past for England. If needed, the team management could ask them to bowl spin with Root.
#2 Fast bowlers should avoid bowling too many loose deliveries
Building pressure by bowling dot balls is an important thing in any format of cricket. Although there is no restriction over the number of overs in a Test innings, the batters feel the pressure when they play three to four consecutive maiden overs.
The English bowlers could not execute their plans well on the opening day. There were many deliveries which were either too full or too short or wide. If they do the basics right, England should get better results on Day 2.
#3 Reduce extras
England leaked 36 runs via extras on the opening day of the Lord's Test match. While 11 of them were the leg-byes, England bowled 12 no-balls and also gave away 13 byes.
DYK: "England have now conceded 34 runs in no-balls in this Ashes so far. They conceded just 32 runs in no balls across all 5 tests in the previous Ashes series."
#Ashes2023 #Ashes #Ashes23 #ENGvsAUS
Extra runs reduce the pressure on the batters. Notably, the home team also conceded 22 runs via no-balls in the previous Test match, whereas Australia bowled only four no-balls. These little things seem small in a five-day Test match, but end up making a big difference when the game gets down to the wire.
It will be interesting to see how Ben Stokes' men perform today in London. The second day's play will begin at 3:30 pm IST.