England suffered a heartbreaking two-wicket defeat at the hands of Australia in the Ashes 2023 opener at Edgbaston on Tuesday (June 20).
After the result, former cricketer-turned-commentator Nasser Hussain questioned England’s ultra-aggressive approach, famously dubbed as the ‘Bazball’.
England declared their first innings at 393/8 after 78 overs on Day 1 when Joe Root was batting on 118 not out. While the bold declaration triggered an outrage, the hosts managed to take a meagre 7-run lead by bowling out Australia for 386.
In the second innings, the Ben Stokes-led side came out swinging and posted 273 on the board, without any of their batters scoring fifty.
"You can't hide behind that (wanting to entertain), and I can almost read Ricky Ponting's mind because he's a winner. England lost [the final Test] in New Zealand as well, if you remember. I know they've had Ireland in between, but now they've lost here and there are two games of cricket they could have won, should have won," Hussain told Sky Sports, referring to England’s 1-run defeat to New Zealand earlier this year.
Chasing 281 to win, Australia were reduced to 227/8. With England inching closer towards victory in the final session, Aussie skipper Pat Cummins was joined by Nathan Lyon in the middle. They had a tough task at hand as the tourists still needed 54 runs to get over the line.
Amid the pressure situation, Cummins struck an unbeaten 44 and was well supported by Nathan Lyon who made 16 not out in an unbroken partnership of 55 runs for the ninth wicket to take Australia home.
Nasser Hussain pointed that England have had success against Australia at home over the years without adopting the 'Bazball' style.
"Remember, we've beaten Australia in England since 2001 playing the old-fashioned way - we didn't need 'Bazball' to beat Australia," he said.
The former England captain also hailed Cummins and his men for sticking to their methods and delivering on the big stage.
"The only thing I'll say is they showed why they're World Test Champions and the No 1 side in the world. They've got some serious players and some seriously tough players as well."
The second Ashes Test will get underway on June 28 at the iconic Lord’s
