Australian bowler Josh Hazlewood believes that his team is well into the game as they have taken eight wickets of England under 400 runs at the Edgbaston in Birmingham on Friday.
Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow scored briskly as England scripted a fiery fightback to help hosts declare their first innings at 393/8 runs after Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood dominated Three Lions on Day 1 in the ongoing first Test of Ashes. Hazlewood who had missed World Test Championship (WTC) final against India due to his injury, has made a impactful comeback into the side. He has taken two wickets on the first day of the Ashes giving support to Nathon Lyon who took four wickets.
“We’ve taken eight for just under 400 and you’d take that on this wicket, whether it takes 80 overs or 160. It’s the same score. If we can keep it as simple as that it will go a long way to wrap our heads around the new Ashes. We’ll keep learning but it’s a good start,” Hazlewood said as quoted by Sky Sports.
“We’ve got to start to look at things differently, not so much at strike-rates and economies and things like that. It’s just about wickets and the score. We’ve taken eight for just under 400 and you’d take that on this wicket, whether it takes 80 overs or 160. It’s the same score. If we can keep it as simple as that it will go a long way to wrap our heads around the new Ashes. We’ll keep learning but it’s a good start.
They’re at 390 and we’re none-for, so it’s pretty even I’d say,” he said. “If you’re none down, you’re pretty happy obviously. That’s a tick,” he added.
Coming to the match, England declared their first innings at 393/8 after electing to bat first. A century from Root (118* in 152 balls, with seven fours and four sixes), fifties from Jonny Bairstow (78 in 78 balls, with 12 fours) and Zak Crawley (61 in 73 balls, with seven fours) powered England to a huge score.
Nathan Lyon (4/149) was the pick of the bowlers for the Aussies. Josh Hazlewood picked up two wickets while Scott Boland, Cameron Green got a wicket each.
At the end of day 1, Australia was at 14/0, with David Warner (8*) and Usman Khawaja (4*). (ANI)
