Australia defeated England in the first Ashes Test by 2 wickets on a flat wicket at Edgbaston. After the defeat in the first test, England have created a green pitch for the second Ashes test at Lord’s in London for which Iceland Cricket took a subtle dig on Twitter on June 27.
England skipper Ben Stokes had made it pretty clear ahead of the first test in Birmingham that they want flat wickets for the entire series. However, it looks like after the defeat in the Birmingham test, Stokes and the English team management changed their strategy.
Ireland Cricket takes a subtle dig at England ahead of Second Ashes Test
The English side has played with an aggressive approach for the last one year popularly termed as ‘Bazball’. Flat wickets allow their batters to play their shots freely and put big totals on the scoreboard to create pressure on their opponents.
Lord’s ground staff unveiled a green wicket after criticism of the ‘soulless’ Edgbaston pitch and the pictures soon went viral on social media. Cricket fans could hardly see any difference between the color of the pitch and that of the outfield.
On June 27, Ireland Cricket trolled England for creating such a green top wicket after the loss in the first test. “Somebody needs to tell the Lord’s groundstaff that Wimbledon begins on Monday, not tomorrow!” wrote Ireland Cricket on their official Twitter handle as they posted a picture of the Lord’s pitch for the second Ashes Test.
Somebody needs to tell the Lord's groundstaff that Wimbledon begins on Monday, not tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/xo5Q7k1kEY
— Iceland Cricket (@icelandcricket) June 27, 2023
The ECB and English team management were heavily criticized by cricket pundits and fans. There was hardly any help for the pacers in the Edgbaston pitch and English pacer James Anderson too blasted at the flat nature of the wicket.
“If all the pitches are like that I’m done in the Ashes series. That pitch was like kryptonite for me. There was not much swing, no reverse swing, no seam movement, no bounce and no pace. I’ve tried over the years to hone my skills so I can bowl in any conditions but everything I tried made no difference. I felt like I was fighting an uphill battle,” James Anderson wrote in his column for ‘The Telegraph’.
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The second Ashes test at Lord’s will begin on June 28 as the England team will look to make a comeback in the 5-match test series. Considering the first pictures of the pitch, both Australia and England might look to tinker with their playing XI.