Australia entered the Fourth Ashes Test in Manchester hoping to seal a victory against England thereby clinching the Ashes in England for the first time since 2001. Winning the Toss, English captain Ben Stokes put Australia into bat on a pitch that has traditionally favored batting. Australia managed to put up 317 runs on the board on the back of half-centuries by Mitchell Marsh and Marnus Labuschagne.
In reply, England counterattacked the Aussie bowling challenge by going Bazball and dominating the Australian bowlers. Opener Zak Crawley went all guns blazing and scored a quickfire 189 off just 182 balls, also stitching useful partnerships with Moeen Ali and Joe Root. Former England cricketer Mark Butcher slammed the Australian team for being terribly outplayed by the English and went so far as to compare them to School level players.
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 – Mark Butcher
Former England Captain Nasser Hussain also mirrored his former teammate and pointed out Pat Cummins’ inability to lead his team from the front during the moment of calling.
Often when you look down on the Australian side historically, you know who the captain is, whether it be Taylor, Border, or Ponting Waugh. If you look down today, there will have been a lot of cricketers waving their arms around trying to help their captain.” said Nasser Hussain.
Meanwhile, Indian batsman and Commentator Dinesh Karthik explained the importance of Nathan Lyon in the Australian team, the off-spinner had an injury that ended the series for him. In his absence, Australia fielded an all-pace bowling unit even leaving out the available spin option in Todd Murphy.
“When (Lyon) is around he does the holding job in the first innings on pitches that don‘t have so much spin. So, with him not being there, it will be really tough on these three bowlers to keep coming back spell after spell and throw in a bit of short ball barrage as well,” said Dinesh Karthik.
Also Read: Ashes 2023: Zak Crawley And Joe Root Completely Demolish Australia On Day 2