Sanjay Manjrekar points out England's concern after 1st Ashes Test
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar highlighted England's concern after Ben Stokes and Co. went down in a thriller of a contest at Edgbaston on Tuesday, June 20. Australia showed great resilience to snatch away a two-wicket win to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match Ashes series.
Chasing 281 runs, the visitors were in a precarious position with the scoreboard reading 227/8. However, skipper Pat Cummins held his nerves and played a match-winning knock to take his side to a historical win.
Cummins (44*) and Nathan Lyon (16*) shared a 55-run stand for the ninth wicket to do the unthinkable.
After the game, Sanjay Manjrekar highlighted that Australia winning without Steve Smith and Marnus Labsuchagne's contribution should worry England ahead of the next Test.
"Australia winning without any serious contribution from Smith & Labuschagne is a slightly ominous sign for England. #Ashes," Manjrekar wrote on Twitter.
Australia winning without any serious contribution from Smith & Labuschagne is a slightly ominous sign for England.
#Ashes
Incidentally, Australia's two best batters, Smith and Labuschagne, had a rather underwhelming outing in Birmingham. While Smith scored 29 runs across two innings, the World No.1 batter could only muster 13 runs, including a duck in the first innings.
However, both batters have demonstrated good form ahead of the recently concluded Test and are expected to bounce back in the upcoming fixture.
"We are going to keep playing this way" - England skipper Ben Stokes upbeat about keeping the ultra-aggressive approach going
England received a fair bit of criticism from experts and fans alike for declaring their innings in the first essay. They were also bashed for playing with the same aggressive intent in the second innings of the match.
Despite all these criticisms, skipper Ben Stokes stressed that they will continue to play the same brand of cricket in the upcoming games.
"Very proud of the team to take it till the end, go through all those emotions," Stokes said at the end of the match.
He added:
"That’s another great game we have been part of, I’ll be very surprised if we haven’t kept people at the edge of their seats throughout this Test.
"Good reason for more people in England and Australia to follow the Ashes," he added. "A loss is a loss, we said we are going to keep playing this way. This is the way we will continue playing, going hard at Australia, taking certain decisions that feel right."
The second Ashes Test will get underway on Wednesday, June 28, at the Lord's.