Ashish Ranjan
The long-awaited Ashes 2023 began on June 16 at Edgbaston, with England and Australia engaging in the opening Test. Ben Stokes, captain of England, won the toss and elected to bat first. England’s opener Zak Crawley introduced Australia to their ‘Bazball’ style of play by scoring a boundary off the very first ball bowled by Pat Cummins, captain of Australia.
Cummins made immediate field adjustments when he removed a player from the slip cordon and placed him on the boundary fence in response to England’s initial assault. Australia had only two players in slips and three on the boundary in the third over. Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting was not impressed with the defensive strategy, and he criticized it in the commentary box.
“They’ve taken the defensive immediately. I must confess that I’m not a huge fan of this starting position. In my opinion, Cummins’ best delivery is too easy to score off there,” Ponting said on the Sky Sports Cricket coverage.Ponting further commented on Australia’s decision to bench their star left-arm bowler Mitchell Starc for the first Test, expressing astonishment at the decision.
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“I must say I was somewhat startled. Last week, there is no question that Mitchell Starc was not at his best. He had been out of action for three months prior to that contest, as had Pat Cummins, who appeared somewhat out of rhythm.
