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‘I’d say it’s a good fun challenge to have’- Josh Hazlewood speaks on England’s aggressive approach

 

The Ashes 2023 certainly lived up to fans’ expectations as they were elated with some exciting tussle between aggressive batting from England’s batter as well as some profound bowling effort by the Australian bowlers. The first ball of the series pretty much set the tone for the fans in order to what to expect from this series.

The Australian seamer Josh Hazlewood recently called the first day’s play an even day for both teams. England went on to declare at the end of the first day’s play posting a decent total of 393/8 and putting the visitors into bat for just four overs. Following Day 1 of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, where England proclaimed shortly after the conclusion with a total of 393, Josh Hazlewood referred to it as a level day’s play.

Along with that, Nathan Lyon pulled up a four-wicket haul, and Hazlewood claimed a handful of wickets, notably his initial breakthrough when he returned Ben Duckett to the hut. Although England batted at almost five runs per over on a wicket that wasn’t very helpful for the bowlers, Joe Root’s 30th Test century was supported by quick half-centuries from Zak Crawley as well as Jonny Bairstow.

Speaking after the match, Hazlewood said that the Australian bowling department were eventually prepared for such an onslaught for the England Bazball brand of cricket. The Australian pacer also pointed out we need to start approaching things in a different way, focusing less on topics like strike rates, the economy, and the like. If we can keep it as straightforward as that just wickets and the score then he thinks it will help us better understand the new Ashes.

“I’d say it’s a good fun challenge to have. It’s good to play a different brand of cricket although don’t think we got dragged into it as much as we could have if things went really south. Though we held our guns pretty well. It wasn’t outrageous strokeplay,” Hazlewood said at a press conference.

England’s positive batting put Australia on the defensive quite early in the game, with fielders in the deep trying to save the boundaries. Hazlewood, however, defended the tactics saying there wasn’t much help from the pitch, which according to him felt like a subcontinent wicket.