Former England Captain Nasser Hussain thinks that the Ben Stokes-led side was a little “sloppy” in the last session of the second day of the Ashes Test match against Australia at the Edgbaston here on Saturday. Usman Khawaja’s 126 (279)* and Alex Carey’s 52(80)* helped Australia to reach 311/5 in 94 overs on Day 2nd stumps, though still trailing by 82 runs. Hussain also pointed out missed stumping and dropped catches in the last session.
“It did start to spin, I thought Moeen Ali bowled beautifully, but then I thought they were a bit sloppy in that last session,” Hussain told Sky Sports.
“Missed stumping, dropped catch, no-ball wicket. A lot of this team hasn’t played a lot of cricket. It isn’t just a skill-based thing it is a fitness thing. That came to the fore in the last session,” he said.
The former English skipper said that the day second favours batters and England had to work hard to take wickets.
“Day two, Edgbaston, it is usually a good day for batting. It is a slow, turgid pitch on which they had to work hard for everything,” Hussain added.
Australia were on the back foot after losing the early wickets of David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, and Steve Smith. Australia were 67/3.
However, Khawaja and Travis Head built up a partnership for the fourth wicket. After Head dismissed Australia had put 148/4 on the board.
Alex Carey played a heling knock and scored 52 (80)* whereas Khawaja clinched his maiden England test century.
Stuart Broad was the pick of the bowler for England, he took two wickets. Returning back to international test cricket, Moeen Ali also took two scalps. Captain Ben Stokes got one wicket.
England declared their first innings at 393/8 after electing to bat first. A century from Root (118* in 152 balls, with seven fours and four sixes), fifties from Jonny Bairstow (78 in 78 balls, with 12 fours) and Zak Crawley (61 in 73 balls, with seven fours) powered England to a huge score.
Nathan Lyon (4/149) was the pick of the bowlers for the Aussies. Josh Hazlewood picked up two wickets while Scott Boland and Cameron Green got a wicket each.
Brief Scores: Australia 311/5 (Usman Khawaja 126(279)*, Alex Carey 52(80) and Moeen Ali 2/124) vs England.
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