For the first time in the ongoing Ashes series, England dominated Australia with their aggressive batting performance. The hosts dominated the Australia bowling attack and raced ahead in the game. This prompted former England opener Mark Butcher to criticise Australia’s fielding efforts. He even compared the visitors’ performance to that of a school team, as England piled on an impressive 384/4 (at stumps) in response to Australia’s 317. The former opening batter was not convinced with the leadership of Pat Cummins and the rest of the bowling unit, saying that it resembled a “school team.”
Mark Butcher spoke about the excellent batting partnership between Zak Crawley (189) and Moeen Ali (54) for the second wicket, which was then followed by Crawley’s exceptional 206-run stand with former England captain Joe Root (84). The trio’s performance left the Australian bowlers chasing leather and not being able to exert any control on the match.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Butcher said, “[Australia] Resembled a school team. Following the ball around, not being able to stick to one plan or another, not being able to bowl two deliveries in the same spot. England just gave them the run-around.”
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Former England captain Nasser Hussain too was not impressed with Pat Cummins’ leadership during the match. The 55-year-old said that Australian sides in the past have been led by captains like Mark Taylor, Alan Border, Ricky Ponting, and Steve Waugh, who commanded the team with authority, but the same could not be said about Pat Cummins.
“Often when you look down on the Australian side historically, you know who the captain is, whether it be Taylor, Border, Ponting Waugh. If you look down today, there will have been a lot of cricketers waving their arms around trying to help their captain,” Hussain said.
At stumps on Day 2, England were in the driver’s seat as the scoreboard read 384 for 4 after 72 overs, with Ben Stokes (24 off 37) and Harry Brook (14 off 41) at the crease.
