The much-awaited and one of the most intense Test battles got underway at Edgbaston on Friday (June 16), with England and Australia locking horns with each other in the first Test of the Ashes 2023. The Day 1 of the match saw England opting for the bazball approach and declaring their innings on a score of 393/8. Joe Root top-scored for his team with an unbeaten 118 off 152 deliveries.
Notably, England scored at a run rate of five runs per over and made the Australian bowlers toil hard throughout the day. While the bazball mode of play by England and their early declaration despite Root on the crease left everyone stunned, Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood revealed that he wasn’t surprised by the English team’s call.
Speaking in the post-match press conference after the stumps of Day 1, Hazlewood who got Australia their first breakthrough by dismissing Ben Duckett, said that he sensed England’s declaration coming and termed the pitch very slow for the bowlers. He even stated that they played pretty well, and the strokeplay of England didn’t seem outrageous to him.
“Once Joe got his hundred they played a few shots, sensed it was coming. That’s the way they are playing their cricket at the moment. First day was probably as I expected to be honest pretty much. The wicket was, not a great deal in it, very, very slow. Not much sideways movement or swing. 390 and we are none-for, so pretty even I’d say,” said Hazlewood.
“Think you have to look at the end score, so 8 for under 400 or basically all out for 400. You’d take that on that wicket for sure. Whether it takes 80 overs or 160, it’s the same score. We have to start to look at things a bit differently, I guess, not so much strike-rates and economy and things like that. It’s just about wickets and the score and if we can keep it as simple as that think it will go a long way towards wrapping our head around the new Ashes. Thought we held our guns pretty well. It wasn’t outrageous strokeplay,” he added.
