Former England captain Michael Vaughan concerned over his team’s bowling ahead of Ashes 2023

England will be up against Australia in the upcoming five-match Ashes series starting from June 16. Ben Stokes’ side will aim to bring the urn back home after being on the wrong end on the previous three occasions. Meanwhile, as the English side looks to keep their famous ‘Bazball’ cricket intact, former captain Michael Vaughan has issued concerns over the team’s bowling.

Vaughan stated that the bowlers’ lack of overs bowled in recent times is an area of worry. “I do have a little bit of a worry about the bowlers because we all know you can be as chilled as you like with the batting in terms of your mental approach, you can be fresh to play and sometimes being fresh is the best kind of mindset,” Vaughan said as quoted by Fox Cricket.

“..but with bowling, not having the overs in the legs, not having time in the middle in the field, it’s a real concern,” Vaughan added. Notably, English bowlers James Anderson, Ollie Robinson, and Mark Wood recently sustained injuries.

“Anderson has not bowled for weeks, Ollie Robinson has not bowled for weeks, Ben Stokes has not bowled for months, Wood has not bowled for months, Moeen Ali (returned from retirement) hasn’t bowled for years and that’s England’s bowling attack,” Vaughan added.

The former England batter also stated that even though these players are very sound with their skills but their bodies will suffer a lot of toll in the hard yards of Test cricket. ‘So yeah, skill-wise they’ll have the skill because that is always with them but we all know the body and spending a day in the dirt and then coming back the next day, Test cricket is not easy on the body so I’m intrigued to see how they go,” he added.

Meanwhile, Vaughan stated that Stuart Broad is the only bowler, who is having bowling practice and he should get the nod in the playing XI. “He’s (Broad) the only bowler that’s been bowling. If they go into the first Test match and they go, Anderson and Ollie Robinson who haven’t been playing recently, they’ve had niggles …

“and then you throw in Wood who has not bowled with a red ball for months and hasn’t bowled one bowl for Durham this summer with the red ball. And then you go Moeen Ali, and then you go Ben Stokes, for me, that’s an attack that just hasn’t got enough in the legs… they have got to get their selections right and I think he (Broad) has to play),” the former skipper said.

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