Nasser Hussain (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
England and Australia played a nerve-wracking Test match at Edgbaston that concluded on Tuesday, June 20. Australia chased down the target of 281 runs in the fourth innings on Day 5 with two wickets to spare, primarily thanks to Usman Khawaja (65) and Pat Cummins (44*), who played brilliantly under pressure. With this win, Australia are now 1-0 ahead in the ongoing Ashes.
One of the major talking points from the Test match was Ben Stokes’ bold declaration on Day 1, when centurion Joe Root and Ollie Robinson were batting together. Both batters were looking well set during their ninth-wicket partnership of 43 runs.
However, Stokes opted to call them back as he wanted the Australian openers to face the music with four overs left in the day. David Warner and Usman Khawaja, safely negotiated the four-over spell, adding 14 runs. When Australia won by just two wickets on Day 5, people criticised England’s timing of declaration on Day 1 as they felt that a few extra runs could have come in handy.
According to former England captain Nasser Hussain, the team under captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, plays the game in their own logic and that has brought them success.
“People will inevitably look back to England’s declaration for its part in the result, and yes, if you apply cricket logic, they should have batted on with Joe Root and Ollie Robinson in. But this England team have their own logic, and it’s helped them win 11 of 14.
“I certainly won’t be going down the road of criticizing them for keeping the game moving forward and entertaining people with a different style of Test cricket,” Hussain wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.
Ben Stokes will get it wrong occasionally, but he is desperate to entertain: Nasser Hussain
The first Test saw strong crowds on all five days. Hussain admitted that Stokes could get things wrong occassionally, but also appreciated the star all-rounder for his desire to entertain.
“Ben Stokes will get it wrong occasionally, but he is desperate to entertain, and you can’t tell me that anyone who has been at the ground for the past five days – there were still 25,000 there at 7 pm on Monday and Tuesday nights – has not enjoyed what they have seen.
“At a time when Test match cricket is vulnerable, all of those people would want to come back and watch a match like that again. That’s the bigger picture,” he concluded.