James Anderson‘s assessment of the Edgbaston pitch for the first Ashes Test was supported by veteran England seamer Stuart Broad.
Despite the series’ slow start, Broad is confident that his fellow pacer will step up in the remaining Tests.
Anderson, who only managed to take one wicket, lashed out at the venue’s lifeless pitch in his most recent column for The Telegraph.
He cited the lack of pace, bounce, swing, and seam as reasons for his criticism. If the tracks carry on behaving in the same manner going forward, he declared that he will be finished with the Ashes.
Stuart Broad expressed a similar viewpoint in his Daily Mail opinion piece and wrote:
“We all know James Anderson is a good player, but there was no swing and no seam in Birmingham, so the circumstances didn’t suit him there.”
“Being a gentleman, we can be sure Jimmy will make a significant contribution to this series.”
“We came so close to taking a 1-0 Ashes lead in Birmingham” – Stuart Broad
Broad also acknowledged that it was challenging for Moeen Ali to bowl 47 overs in a match after more than two years without playing red-ball cricket.
Rehan Ahmed has been called up as cover because “time is going to be quite important for Moeen too, because it’s quite a decent gouge on his spinning finger.”
“Playing Twenty20 cricket consistently for a while, bowling two to three overs at a time, and then all of a sudden scoring 47 was going to be a difficult ask for Moeen.”
Ali took three wickets in the match as he made his Test cricket comeback following a retirement.
The seasoned cricket player will likely miss the Lord’s Test due to a finger injury, though.
England regret missing the crucial moments at Edgbaston, according to Stuart Broad in the aforementioned article.
He continued by thanking the audience for showing up in such large numbers.
Broad wrote, “We came so close to taking a 1-0 Ashes lead in Birmingham, but head to Lord’s trailing Australia.”
What should we change this week in order to attack even harder? The changing room was in ruins at the conclusion of that riveting first Test, but that is only natural—it should be that way when you lose.
“There was quite a bit of emotion because we had gone from a raucous crowd and all the excitement and adrenaline to sitting quietly with our own thoughts.”
Brendon McCullum’s appreciation for their efforts and the fact that playing for more than 200 overs was exhausting were both discussed by Broad.
The second Ashes Test will begins at Lord’s on June 28.
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