Former England captain Kevin Pietersen slams England bowlers for showing a lack of intent on Day 1 of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, London.
Kevin Pietersen Slams England Bowlers
As per Ashes 2023 schedule, the 2nd test is scheduled to play between June 28 to July 2 in Lord’s, London. Right after losing the first test at Edgbaston, the England cricket team is expected to make a comeback in the second test with an aggressive start.
Speaking on the match Australian openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja put a 73-run stand and laid a strong foundation for the game. Though England managed to bag 5 wickets on day 1, the batting team posted 339 runs at the end of play.
Speaking on England’s performance on day 1, Kevin Pietersen said “Absolutely shambolic! You have overhead conditions, you have a wicket that suits your bowlers and have got bowlers running in at 78 to 80 mph. Now it is one thing, walking here, swanning around and saying ‘Hey, this is a wonderful team to play in. We are creating the best environment’. But this is not Ashes cricket!”.
“The Australians here were outside to bat before the English bowlers. The English bowlers this morning should have been on the stairs saying ‘We want to bowl at Australia. We are desperate to bowl to Australia’. These two Australian batters are out there waiting for England. They are the ones who should have been in the room saying ‘No, no! Hold on! We don’t want to bat’. And it’s all too easy, it’s all too nice.
“Are you joking? Are you absolutely joking?” said a fiery Pietersen.
“Are you joking? Are you absolutely JOKING?” 😤
Kevin Pietersen is NOT happy with England today and says it has been ‘shambolic’ 😳 pic.twitter.com/eTJ50UBTnm
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 28, 2023
As far as the match is concerned, winning the toss, England opted to bowl first where opening batters David Warner and Usman Khawaja made a 73-run stand for the first wicket.
Josh Tongue broke the partnership by dismissing Usman Khawaja for 17 runs. David Warner who scored his 35th Test fifty lost his wicket to Josh Tongue. On the other hand, Australia’s star player Steven Smith scored his 32nd Test century and pushed Australia’s score to a safer side.
During the first session of Day 2, Australia scored 403 runs for 8 wickets loss where Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon stands at the crease on behalf of Australia. Josh Tongue bagged 3 key wickets of Australia and restricted the run flow.
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Who is Josh Tongue
Josh Tongue who plays for Worcestershire County Cricket Club made his international debut for England in a Test match against Ireland on Jun 01, 2023. On 2 June 2023, Tongue took his maiden test wicket, before going on to finish the innings with figures of 5-66.
Josh Tongue played 2 Tests so far and bagged 8 wickets which includes a five wickets haul.
