In the first match of the Ashes series between England and Australia, England lost by two wickets. Australia won the first match of the five-match series in a thrilling way at the Birmingham ground. Australian captain Pat Cummins shared an unbeaten 55-run partnership for the ninth wicket with Nathan Lyon to take his team to victory.
The England team also had to face defeat in the last Ashes series held in Australia. After the humiliating defeat of England in this series, there were many changes in the ECB. Everything from the board of directors to the coach and captain of the team was changed. Brendon McCullum became the new coach of England and Ben Stokes got the responsibility of captaincy. Together these two changed the style of playing Test.
England players started batting in T20 style even in Test matches and at the time of bowling, this team started struggling to take wickets in every ball. England players forgot that a test match can also be a draw. The effect of this was that England won consecutive Test matches. Defeated teams like Pakistan and New Zealand at their home. This new style of playing in England was called baseball. After the arrival of baseball, the England team won matches continuously and the fans also liked the new style of Test cricket.
Many veterans of the cricket world said that other teams should also play Test cricket like England. However, some former players believe that the test of baseball in Australia and India is yet to come. If the England team goes there and plays in the same way and is successful, then only baseball will be called successful in the true sense. However, the England team has lost at home against Australia. After this, there is a lot of talk about the attitude of baseball and England, but team captain Ben Stokes says that his team will play in this style and he is proud of his players.
Ben Stokes said "I'm very proud of the team that took it to the end, another great match we were a part of. I would have been very surprised if we hadn't kept them tied throughout the Test match. Another good reason why For which the people of England and Australia should follow the Ashes."
When Stokes was asked about this defeat of England, he made it clear that this defeat will not make any difference to England's style of cricket. Stokes said, "A loss is a loss, we said we would play in this style, and we will continue to do so, dominating Australia, making the decisions we feel are right."
On the very first day of the match, batting first, Stokes declared England's innings at 393 for eight. When asked about his decision, Stokes said "Not at all, I didn't find that wrong, I saw that we could counter Australia. It's never easy for anybody to go into the last 20 minutes and bat. Who knows, Joe Root and Jimmy Anderson would have got out and we would have been in the same position."
(pc amarujala)
