Former England captain Nasser Hussain reckons that England made a mistake of underestimating the West Indies in the first Test at Ageas Bowl, Southampton. The visitors stunned the hosts in the first Test by four wickets as they were able to come up with a collective effort.
Hussain believes it was a bad call from the team to leave out experienced Stuart Broad. The former England captain questioned whether the team would have dropped Broad from the final XI if they were playing the first Test match of the Ashes.
Hussain also feels had England played Broad in the first Test, they might have bowled first when there were cloudy conditions on the opening day. However, they decided to bat first when the conditions were perfect for bowling.
“Hats off to West Indies for a super performance, but I’d like to ask England one question. If this had been the first game of the Ashes, would they have left out Stuart Broad?” Hussain wrote in his column for Daily Mail.
“It makes me wonder if they’ve made a mistake they keep making against this West Indies side. They underestimated them, despite the Wisden Trophy currently being in possession of Jason Holder.
“But if Broad had been playing, Stokes might well have chosen to bowl on Wednesday morning and I believe West Indies would have been dismissed cheaply. Without Broad in the side, the decision at the toss becomes 50-50, as we saw on Sunday, when England might have won had they taken their chances.
On the other hand, England’s first match Test captain Ben Stokes stated that he neither regretted his call to leave out Stuart Broad nor his decision to bat first. Stokes added that they could not come up with a good batting performance in the first innings and thus it played a key role in their loss.
Meanwhile, Stuart Broad had shown his disappointment after he was left out of the playing XI. Broad, who has all the experience under his belt, stated that it was his shirt and he was unlucky to miss out. In fact, Broad was England’s leading wicket taker on the South Africa tour with 14 wickets and it was a surprising decision to leave him out of the final XI.
In fact, Stokes had backed the pace of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood in the first Test as the pitch was on the slow side. However, the ploy didn’t work as both the fast bowlers could only take one wicket between them in the first innings. Stokes added that if he regrets his decision to leave out Stuart Broad, then it would leave a wrong message to the players who played ahead of him.
West Indies have deservingly taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match series and the second Test match will be played at Old Trafford, Manchester from July 16.
