Former England white-ball captain Eoin Morgan isn’t too way with the way England batting have approached the Lord’s Test match of the ongoing Ashes Series. While the hosts were 0-1 down heading into this second Test match of the series, captain Ben Stokes won the toss and invited Australia to bat first. The Aussies though it felt were up to the challenge and posted 416 runs batting first in overcast conditions. In response, the Three Lions had found themselves in a good position at one stage with Ben Duckett making 98 and a couple of fourties from Zak Crawley and OIie Pope, however, they kept losing wickets, failing in their ploy of going against the Australian bowling.
On Day 3 morning, within the first hour of the day’s play, England lost their six wickets for 47 runs to get bowled out for 325 and concede a 91-run lead to the Kangaroos. Following the batting performance of the hosts, Morgan along with several other experts have lashed out on the batters and their approach.
“I think there’s a certain amount of extra risk you take on as opposed to normal, but I actually thought Australia had a brilliant morning,” Morgan said on Sky Sports.
“You can’t just go and belt the best team in the world’s attack all over the place, it has to be more calculated than that”
Eoin Morgan reflects on the morning 💭 pic.twitter.com/A0O4lmQ4kz
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 30, 2023
“England toned it down a little bit, but excellent bowling and excellent planning from Australia. Their attack is express pace, accurate, it’s the best in the world. And you can’t just go and belt the best in the world all over the place. It has to be more calculated than that,” he added.
Former England cricketer Michael Atherton also feels that England are perhaps not in control of what they are doing, the way their Bazball approach to Test cricket has backfired in the ongoing series.
Australia have ended Day 3 at 130/2 in their second innings with their total lead surging up to 221. Usman Khawaja remains unbeaten on 58.
