It might seem strange to think the experience of playing on featherbeds during the three-Test tour of Pakistan last winter would come in useful in a home Ashes summer, but that is precisely what England are having to tap into in the field at Edgbaston.
The ‘Bazball’ batting grabbed most of the headlines during that historic 3-0 series victory, but it would not have been accomplished had the tourists not had the ability to take 20 wickets a match in some of the most bowler-unfriendly conditions they could have come up against.
Part of that has been mirroring their aggressive approach with the bat in the field, with skipper Ben Stokes not only setting attacking fields but having the patience to stick with the plan knowing it will come good even when it seems like circumstances are shifting against you.
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Conditions at Edgbaston for the first Test of this year’s Ashes series are not quite as lopsided in favour of the batting team, but both sides have had to toil at times in the field over the first two days. Whereas Australia quickly defaulted to defence mode though, England stuck with Plan A which has worked so well home or away.
“England have done pretty well with all those skills they learnt in Pakistan,” former England captain Nasser Hussain told Sky Sports.
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“It seems very odd to be comparing a pitch in England to Rawalpindi or anywhere else in Pakistan, but they learnt a lot of skills from the field settings.
“You can see from the field setting with four men on the drive, you’ve seen cutters, you’ve even seen Jimmy Anderson bowling a knuckleball.
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England struck early on day two of the first Ashes Test with Stuart Broad taking the wickets of David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne in consecutive balls
“It’s not just winning in Pakistan that boosts confidence, it’s the skills you learn travelling and playing in different conditions.”
Not that it was the case in the morning on day two, though. Indeed, one could easily imagine the seam trio of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson were bouncing off the walls of the team hotel when they woke up to find out there was cloud and rain around in Birmingham early on.
That followed an opening day where Australia’s pace battery got no assistance from the pitch or the weather, emphasised by the fact the average lateral movement for seam and swing of 0.89 degrees on offer to them on day one was the lowest since CricViz’s records began in 2006.
With swing up from 0.5 degrees to 1.0 degrees, it was little surprise to see the hosts make early inroads with what was effectively still a new ball as Broad claimed two wickets in two balls, proving David Warner’s bete noire once again and then tempting new batter Marnus Labuschagne into edging to wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.
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Stokes removed Steve Smith just before lunch as Australia found themselves three wickets down
Stokes then had another danger-man in Steve Smith trapped lbw for just 16 and even former Australia captain Ricky Ponting was impressed by how their old rivals had approached the morning session.
“Their planning looked outstanding,” Ponting told Sky Sports. “There was a really good set-up to Labuschagne with a leg gully and a short mid-on, making him think the ball was going to come in only for it to be an out-swinger that he was drawn into playing at.
“England have made it really hard for Australia to score which is in stark contrast to when England were batting. Australia had lots of fielders out at deep square, deep point and England were able to rotate strike.
“Before we looked up yesterday, every England batter was 15 or 20 before we blinked – that hasn’t been the case today.”
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Moeen Ali picked up his second wicket of the innings with this brilliant delivery to Cameron Green
It was in the afternoon those skills and tactics honed over the winter came into play though as the conditions improved for the batters, particularly in the case of Stokes backing Moeen Ali as Travis Head and Usman Khawaja opted to take the spinner on.
Nevertheless, the off-break bowler got Head out three balls after he had reached his 50 with an awkward shot which went straight to midwicket fielder Zak Crawley and then bowled Cameron Green for 38 first ball after tea, and Hussain praised the skipper for his management of Moeen.
“In particular, I thought Stokes has been brilliant and we’ve seen this for a number of Test matches where he backs his spinner and says to them ‘Go on, have another go, keep hitting it – I’m not putting a man out there’,” Hussain said.
“Head and Khawaja went after Moeen Ali, and he kept mid-on and mid-off up, said ‘Go on then, we’ll gamble 20 runs but, in the end, it will get me a wicket’. That is classic Ben Stokes.”
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Broad’s celebrations were cut short after he was denied the wicket of Usman Khawaja by a no-ball
Stokes was not afraid to mix it up with his part-time bowlers either, giving the ball to both Harry Brook and Joe Root – who, combined, bowled more maidens than Australia managed in England’s first innings – throughout the day in an effort to unsettle the batters’ rhythm.
Had it not been for Bairstow missing chances behind the stumps and a no-ball from Broad which robbed him of Khawaja’s wicket within two deliveries of England taking the new ball after tea, Australia would likely have been in a worse position than 311-5 and trailing by 82 at the close.
Khawaja (126 not out) and Alex Carey (52 not out) put together an unbeaten sixth-wicket partnership of 91 as well, but unsurprisingly the message from England head coach Brendon McCullum remains the same as always.
“Baz mentioned to the bowlers it’s been quite a slow, turgid pitch, so to still be 82 runs ahead of Australia with Pat Cummins and the tail next, we’re pretty happy,” Broad told Sky Sports. “Things can happen pretty quickly for us in the first hour [on day three].
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Broad reflects on a challenging day against Australia after day two of The Ashes
“There wasn’t a lot in that pitch, it felt slow from length and a lot of the energy got sapped from the ball from length, so to pick up their key batters relatively cheaply, we’re pretty happy.
“Ultimately, our aim is for Australia to bat last on that and hopefully it keeps deteriorating.”
Watch day three of the first Ashes Test, from Edgbaston, live on Sky Sports Cricket on Sunday. Build-up starts at 10.15am ahead of the first ball at 11am.
Sourse: skysports.com
