England were at the receiving end of a narrow two-wicket defeat against Australia in the Ashes 2023 opener at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

After the result, Australian legend Ricky Ponting questioned England’s ultra-aggressive approach, famously dubbed as the ‘Bazball’.

The Ben Stokes-led side batted aggressively in both innings at Edgbaston and shocked many by declaring their first innings at 393/8 on Day 1. After taking a meagre 7-run lead, the hosts came out swinging in their second innings, posting 273 even without one of their batters reaching fifty.

In hindsight, it did seem that the bold declaration backfired and Ponting wondered whether England’s ‘Bazball’ style will work against Australia – the reigning World Test Champions.

“I think England have got the most questions to answer. Their style of play, is it going to hold up in an Ashes series?” the former Australian captain said on Sky Sports.

“By no means am I saying that England’s method is wrong, I have loved watching them play, but it just goes to show there is more than one way to skin a cat."

However, Ponting expects England to continue with their attacking approach and he is looking forward to the second Test, scheduled to be played at Lord’s from June 28 to July 2.

“This is a long and hard game. Australia’s method has stood up and it has worked.

“I want this series to be played the same way and I know Ben and Brendon will play the same way, which adds even more to next week,” Ponting stated.

Meanwhile, England skipper Ben Stokes has defended his decision to declare the first innings after 78 overs, saying that they wanted to send a message to Australia about their approach.

“I saw (the declaration) as an opportunity to pounce on Australia. No one likes to go out for 20 minutes at the back end of a day,” Stokes said after the Edgbaston Test defeat, as quoted by Sky Sports.

"Scoring 390 and then being able to declare sends a message to Australia about how we want to take them on.

“If we didn't declare, would we have got that excitement like we did at the end? I'm not 100 per cent sure but I'm not going to be looking back at this game as what ifs. We just didn't manage to get over the line.”