Nasser Hussain claims the conditions should not hide the simple fact that England’s bowlers had a bad day in Old Trafford.
Let’s be fair, England were bad now. However, I believe you need to set it it’s turned into a day for bowling. Any bowler who has performed in windy conditions, it was cold will inform you’ve got difficult it is to get to any kind of rhythm.
A day just like that has been tough work and it looks a bit flat. The pitch is an absolute belter and also after what occurred in the Headingley, everything is going to seem a little bit flat. You’ve gone from one extreme to another.
Also the body language on a freezing cold day like that – and it had been arctic cold out there – players do walk around with their hands in their pockets so it looks a bit flat as you’ve got handwarmers on your pockets.
That doesn’t take away from the simple fact that I believed they were bad although you need to give it a little context.
I thought it was wrong that Jofra Archer only bowled seven chunks at Steve Smith, although a fantastic spell bowled.
That was the contest that was crucial and Joe Root had two options: to keep Archer going after he had bowled five overs and bowl him for a spell, nine or eight overs, and proceed , after Smith was at. Or take off him and put him back just prior to lunch, you’ve given him a rest so you are able to ask him to actually steam for four or three overs of bitterness.
We got that and neither enabled Smith to settle once he excels he is a rock and most of us know.
He hasn’t looked troubled but has there actually been a time of sustained hostility at him? Has anyone gone around the wicket at him? Has anyone actually targeted him? A little bit but not actually, and it is a pitch to play with the short ball.
Smith stated himself vacation this morning as it goes through, he was awaiting batting on it, it is a bit like a pitch. It’s not fast but you can trust the bounce so when it does go in short, you can escape the way.
A number of these pitches in this show have been two-paced and you also don’t know whether to duck or influence. I think they’ve changed their technique slightly too, Smith and Marnus Labuschagne were still rocking to try and prevent Archer’s bouncers but because he nips the ball at the chunk was following them so what they’ve done today is phased out of their way, offside of it and let the ball move.
As for me, I want to have a bit more of an excuse on Chris Woakes and he had been left out. He’s a good cricketer and England may know something regarding his fitness, he is entering the’red zone’ or his knee however, for me personally, a fit Woakes would maintain my side. That’s nothing from Craig Overton, he is a good cricketer now and he’s done pretty well.
The chunk to get Labuschagne was an absolute beauty, a lot is not from the pitch and what I’ve said during the day about the terms applies to Overton because it will to everyone else and Archer – it hasn’t been an easy moment.
I was surprised they didn’t possess the heavy bails in Old Trafford. I couldn’t believe that, especially up here and together using the prediction being exactly what it was.
I’ve played in many a match where they’ve known for the hefty bails and the other afternoon I was watching my child play at the Essex league where they only took the bails off, like they did now, so I’ve seen it at club cricket although not in cricket before!
For a little while, conditions were dreadful; it was freezing cold, crisp packets breeze, and the bails were falling all the time off, and also in one stage there had been a beach ball blowing round the ground.
This was a really very hard afternoon and fair play into the spectators who sat through it and observed all that since you’ve got to be a soul and a cricket buff to do that.
See day two of the fourth Test between England and Australia on Sky Sports The Ashes from 10am.
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