Since Brendon McCullum became England’s head coach in red-ball cricket and forged a partnership with captain Ben Stokes, the Three Lions have opted to play home Tests on flat decks. This is because they have taken an extremely aggressive approach to batting, and the flat pitches have allowed them to score quickly, rattling the opponents.
However, the strategy flopped in the second Test against India at Edgbaston in the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series. Shubman Gill, the Indian captain, became the first hitter in Test cricket to score a double century and a 150 in the same match. The foreigners won the lopsided match by 336 runs.
Shubman scored a staggering 585 runs in his first four innings of the tour of England.
Mitchell Starc, an Australian fast who is now in the West Indies for a three-match Test series,
Has stated that he would not want to bowl to Shubman on such unresponsive grounds. The left-arm bowler stated that young England cricketers would not want to focus on the skill of bowling if the wickets were as conducive to batsmen as they are presently.
“I would not bowl to him in England, for sure. I didn’t see much of the game, but I did see the scores. A few guys were waking up, especially Marnus, Alex Carey, and Steve Smith, who would gather around a coffee machine to watch the game. I saw the scores. What youngster in England would want to bowl on some of those wickets? But according to all reports, it was quite subcontinental, which I find hard to believe,” Starc stated on the Willow Talk Podcast (via Indian Express).
Australia played the World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord’s last month against South Africa. Bowlers enjoyed bowling on the surface as wickets fell in clusters on the first couple of days before things got better for the batters. However, the ongoing third Test between India and England at the same venue is being played on a pitch where the bowlers are not getting as much assistance.
