Former England batter Mark Butcher admitted his surprise after Ben Stokes decided to declare at 393-8 on the opening day of the first Test Ashes match against Australia at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Joe Root was batting unbeaten on 118 whereas Ollie Robinson was batting unbeaten on 17 when Stokes decided to call back his batters.
Stokes wanted to have a crack at the Australian openers but the England bowlers failed to pick up a wicket. In fact, the decision was a bit surprising as Edgbaston’s pitch has been a paradise for the batters and there is not much assistance for the fast bowlers.
In response, Australia scored 386 runs in the first innings after Usman Khawaja scored a fine knock of 141, which is his first century on English soil. Furthermore, Alex Carey and Travis Head scored valuable fifties for the visitors.
Speaking to Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast, Butcher said, “I was absolutely flabbergasted by that [declaration]. Great theatre and all the rest of it, wonderful. But how much would England have liked another 50 runs on top of their target as of right at this minute?”
The former left-hander who batted at one down for England added the hosts had enough time on their sleeves in the Test match and thus it was a surprising decision.
He added: “Playing fast and loose with totals in the first innings when time is very much on your side in Test matches … I understand it in games where you’re trying to put time back in. But at that point on day one of a Test match? Wow, what a decision that is. And that could yet come back to bite England on the backside at some point over the next couple of days.”
Butcher feels it didn’t make much sense to declare when Joe Root was batting at the top of his game and there were runs to be made.
“The thing that you shouldn’t just throw your hands in the air at and say, ‘that’s just us being on the front foot’, is declaring your first innings closed when you’ve got a bloke on 120 playing like God and there are runs to be made in a Test match with a pitch that is going to deteriorate, that to me is nuts.”
At the draw of stumps on Day 3, England was 28-2 and they were leading by 35 runs.
