Nasir Hussain lashed out at England for the disappointing performance on the first day

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London . Former England captain Nasser Hussain has come down heavily on Ben Stokes and his teammates, describing their performance on the opening day of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s as lacking in energy and enthusiasm.

Australia made a strong start to the second Ashes Test, ending the first day at 339/5 at Lord’s against England’s seam attack with half-centuries from David Warner (66), Travis Head (77) and Steve Smith (85 not out) , Which made the guests happy.

In his column for the Daily Mail, Hussain pointed out that despite winning the toss and electing to bowl first in cloudy conditions, England showed a lack of intensity with the ball.

Hussain said, “Despite winning the toss they were under pressure and their bowling attack lacked intensity – each of the five seam bowlers had low pace and did not bowl bouncers to turn things around – while the fielding was loose and He missed the catch.

“Where was the spark? Where was the urge? When the Just Stop Oil protest happened, there was a lot of conversation and then, when it rained, they were still upstairs while the Aussie batsmen waited on the stairs downstairs.”

He wrote in his column, “In the event of that drizzling, if the umpires call you back, you as a fielding team immediately run out, wanting to bowl as much as possible.”

Additional fast bowler Josh Tongue was the fast bowler selected for England on the day, dismissing both Australia’s openers with fine deliveries and ending the day with figures of 2–88.

Reflecting on the positives for England on an overall forgettable day, Hussain praised paceman Tang, considering him to be the standout performer among the bowlers and said, “Josh Tang was one of the bowlers and he needs to be on the green top.” It was a brave decision to play, while they could have easily picked Chris Woakes, who is a good all-round cricketer with a good record on the field.

Hussain said, “Getting David Warner out was a fine piece of bowling. But it was a rare positive given England’s usually lack of intensity.”

(IANS)

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