“Shane Warne used to hate that kind of thing” - Nasser Hussain reckons Australia blinked first on Day 1 of Ashes 2023

Former England captain Nasser Hussain has opined that Australia were defensive in their tactics on Day 1 of the first Ashes 2023 Test at Edgbaston on Friday. According to Hussain, by posting a deep point ‘as early as the first over’, Australia all but admitted that England were capable of implementing ‘Bazball’ against them.

England ended Day 1 of the 1st Test in Birmingham with the upper hand. Batting first after winning the toss, they declared on 393/8 as Joe Root scored 118*, while Jonny Bairstow smashed a run-a-ball 78 on his comeback.

Writing in his column for the Daily Mail, Hussain claimed that Australia blinked first on the opening day of the Ashes tussle.

“By posting a deep point as early as the first over it looked like they [Australia] were admitting ‘we know you can do that against us, and we are going to have to set the field accordingly.’ They were reacting before anything had happened in effect and it was a surprise in some ways to see Australia blink first,” he wrote.

Analyzing Australia’s ‘defensive’ field settings in detail, he added that keeping a fielder back in the first few deliveries is something that very rarely occurs at the start of an Ashes series.

“Whether it was simply a mark of respect for the way England have been playing or just a tactic by Australia to keep their opponents under pressure, to keep them under control in the hope that they’d do something silly, only they will know,” Hussain continued.

The former England skipper also questioned Australia’s tactics of not bringing the field in even when new batters walked in, which allowed the hosts to breathe easy.

The 55-year-old elaborated:

“And they kept the field out whenever a new batter walked in, which meant players like Joe Root and Harry Brook took advantage of knocking it square of the wicket on either side for singles.

"The great Shane Warne used to hate that kind of thing. As a bowler, he wanted six balls at the new guy. He didn’t want them to knock it for one and get up the other end,” he added.

Apart from Root and Bairstow, opener Zak Crawley also shone for England, smashing 61 off 73 balls.

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“They do have a Plan B” - Hussain hails England for Day 1 fightback

Despite not setting aggressive fields, Australia did well to reduce England to 176/5. However, an excellent 121-run stand for the sixth wicket saw the hosts make a terrific comeback.

According to Hussain, Australia made life easy for Root by allowing him to take singles and rotate the strike. He wrote:

“Personally, I would’ve gone the other way round and made Root play the bigger shot, because he was quite happy dropping it in gaps. With their tactics, they were asking England whether they could play a different way if they cut off the boundary options. Where they willing to knock it around?

“England’s answer was to show that they are not just a wham, bam, slog it around team. Joe Root is an incredibly smart cricketer. Keep giving him ones and he will take them. This was them emphatically showing us all that they do have a Plan B and they still scored at four and a half runs an over in doing so,” he continued.

Responding to England’s first-innings total of 393/8 declared, Australia went to stumps on Day 1 at 14/0.