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Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen was not at all pleased with the way England performed on Day 1 of the second Test match of the Ashes series being played at the iconic Lord’s Stadium in London. While Australia were leading 1-0 heading into this Test match, England won the toss and chose to field first in the second Test match under overcast conditions. However, the Aussies won’t mind their position at the end of the day’s play on Wednesday (June 28) with them having posted 339/5 with Steve Smith batting on 85 and Alex Carey unbeaten on 11.
Pietersen, who has been part of several Ashes Tests himself in his career, said that he hoped that the English cricketers were given a hammering by their coach Brendon McCullum as they were simply not good enough.
“Not a lot caught my eye from an English perspective. it’s been shambolic, absolutely shambolic. You have overhead conditions, you have a wicket that suits your bowlers. And you have your bowlers running in at 78, 78 and 80 mph. There’s one thing, walking here, swarming around and saying ‘hey, this is a wonderful team to play in, we are creating the best environment’,” Pietersen said on Sky Sports.
“But this is not Ashes cricket. I have played Ashes cricket, 30 Tests against Australia. The Australian batters were out on those stairs to bat before the English bowlers this morning. The English bowlers should have been there, showing they are desperate to bowl at Australia,” he added.
Pietersen was critical of England’s body language as well as the fact that some of their players were having seen a friendly chat before the start of the day’s play. He even compared it to some of the older Ashes where scenes like this were unimaginable, such intense was the rivalry.
“And it’s all too easy. It’s all too nice (England players talking to Aussie openers at the start). Do you think Ricky Ponting in 2005 is going to be talking to Geraint Jones? Do you think a Michael Vaughan was going to be talking to Justin Langer and say ‘hey mate, what a cool day? It’s overcast, it’s beautiful’,” he said.
“Are you joking? Are you absolutely JOKING?” 😤
Kevin Pietersen is NOT happy with England today and says it has been ‘shambolic’ 😳 pic.twitter.com/eTJ50UBTnm
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 28, 2023
“Are you joking? Are you absolutely joking? I just hope they are in their dressing room now and the England coach is giving them their biggest hammering and saying ‘it’s not good enough!’. You can’t bowl like here today. You can’t have these conditions. You can’t declare at 390. You think Australia would declare today? They get to 390, and declare? No chanc,” he added.
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