England require a complete turnaround in order to prevent losing the ongoing second Ashes 2023 Test match at Lord’s. If they continue to play the way they have played in the series so far, the visitors should gain a 2-0 lead by tomorrow. Former England captain Nasser Hussain has also predicted a 0-2 scoreline for the hosts if they don’t learn from their mistakes.
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Having not lost a Test series till now, this English side has seen a lot of success under the Bazball era. However, the same approach has put them on the verge of losing their second consecutive Test. With such a thing happening for the first time in an Ashes series, a significant and severe amount of criticism is not surprising by any means.
A lot of former greats criticized England after their defeat in the first Test in Birmingham. Unaffected by it, opener Zak Crawley had predicted a huge English win in the second match. That being said, England’s performance has been nowhere near to what Crawley had predicted.
Nasser Hussain Predicts Defeat At Lord’s If England Don’t Do This
Speaking to former England batter Ian Ward for Sky Sports Cricket on the morning of the fourth day, Hussain urged Ben Stokes and his men to learn from their mistakes. He said that everyone makes errors but results can only be turned if one learns from those mistakes.
Hussain’s primary agenda was to make England realize how they will have to adjust better to situations in an Ashes series. With the home team currently following a high-risk all-attack approach, Hussain wants them to tone down a bit. Readers must note that the Australian bowlers successfully targeted the English batters with short balls in the first innings which resulted in them getting out to some adventurous shots.
“Mistakes are part of sports, people make mistakes. They have got to learn from their mistakes in the first innings. The mistake was going after balls they shouldn’t have gone after on a number of occasions.”
“Shut out the noise and make sure that you are not stubborn. If you are just saying ‘that’s the way we play’, you’re going to be 2-0 down.”
For those who don’t know, Hussain pretty much iterated what former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said during the first Test at Edgbaston. Ponting posted a lot of questions on England’s way of playing and was quite unsure whether the home side will be able to sustain playing the same way or not.
Jeetan Patel Defends Harry Brook’s Dismissal
Amid a large number of experts finding faults with England bater Harry Brook‘s dismissal in the first innings on Day 3, assistant coach Jeetan Patel has lent support to the right-hander. Addressing the reporters on Friday, Patel insisted that it was the only direction where Brook could have found the boundary. It was tough to score in that area and he lost his wicket in the process.
“I think Brooky’s [Harry Brook] option was to take that. That was the only place he was going to hit four to maybe switch the momentum over.”
“We’re about trying to soak up pressure and apply it where we can. Part of trying to apply that was to get them off that length, which is obviously tough to score.”
Apart from Brook’s innovative shots, former captain Joe Root‘s reverse laps are the talk of the town nowadays. Having gained huge success from it, he used that shot against New Zealand pacer Neil Wagner time and against earlier this year. Patel mentioned that people were praising the same shot when the team was winning and now they are criticizing when the team isn’t doing that well.
Root, who hit a six via reverse ramping Scott Boland in the last match, is yet to get out whilst playing such a shot in this series.
