Former England player Nasser Hussain has bashed at England’s selection for the ongoing pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval. Hussain added that England got their team selection wrong again after having faced a loss in the first Test in Brisbane as well.
He said that as England chose an all-out pace attack, which included five seamers and no spinner. And, Australia had a stunning start as they finished Day One on 221-2. Writing in his column for the Daily Mail, Nasser Hussain lashed out at the captain and coach for selecting five pace bowlers for the match.
Nasser Hussain called their decision a selection blunder and wrote:
“Chris Silverwood and Joe Root should not have picked five English-type seamers just because they are playing a day-night Test in Adelaide. It’s not the first time they have done this either. In Ahmedabad, last winter England played four seamers against India and then saw 28 of the 30 wickets that fell going to spin.”
He continued:
“There were long periods of play when the pitch was slow and flat and they needed a specialist spinner or the extra pace and X-factor of Mark Wood. But they had picked the side in Adelaide they should have played last week in Brisbane on a green top and they clearly do not rate their spinner in Jack Leach, not if they are leaving him out here.”
“I cannot fault England’s efforts but they did bowl too short” – Nasser Hussain
Along with this, England had a bad day in fielding too. Jos Buttler dropped Marnus Labuschagne thrice, once at 21 and later when he was at 95 as well. And, later he smashed his sixth Test ton. And, the veteran commentator claimed that England missed the trick by bowling full and pitching the ball short too.
“I cannot fault England’s efforts but they did bowl too short. The England bowlers were too worried about going for runs and did not bowl full enough. I know England lost Jofra Archer and Olly Stone before this series but Silverwood has been saying for two years now that they need pace in Australia. And Root has said that if England do what they’ve always done in Australia, they will be beaten again. But they have not done much differently so far in this series,” Nasser Hussain concluded.
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