Former England players compare Pat Cummins-led Australia to ‘school team’

For the first time in the ongoing Ashes series, England dominated Australia with their aggressive batting display. The hosts dominated Australia’s bowling attack and were ahead in the game. This prompted former England opener Mark Butcher to criticize Australia’s fielding efforts. He even compared the visitors’ performance to that of a school team, as England piled on an impressive 384/4 (at stumps) in reply to Australia’s 317. The former opener was not convinced by the leadership of Pat Cummins and the rest of the bowling unit, saying it resembled a “school team”.

Mark Butcher spoke about the excellent batting partnership between Jack Crawley (189) and Moeen Ali (54) for the second wicket, after which Crawley shared an extraordinary 206-run partnership with former England captain Joe Root (84). Due to the performance of these three Australian bowlers could not control the match.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Butcher said, “(Australia) were like a school team. Chasing the ball around, not being able to stick to a plan or another, not being able to throw two balls in the same spot. England just chased him away.

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Former England captain Nasser Hussain was also not impressed with Pat Cummins’ leadership during the match. The 55-year-old said that in the past the Australian team has been led by captains like Mark Taylor, Allan Border, Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh who have commanded the team with authority, but the same cannot be said about Pat Cummins. Is.

“Often when you look at the Australian team historically, you know who the captain is, be it Taylor, Border, Ponting Waugh. If you look down today, a lot of cricketers would be waving arms around to help their captain,” Hussain said.

At stumps on the second day, England were in the driver’s seat as the scoreboard read 384 for 4 after 72 overs, with Ben Stokes (24 off 37) and Harry Brook (14 off 41) at the crease.