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Former Australian bowler Brett Jeffs believed England’s ultra-aggressive approach was likely to backfire during the Ashes, adding that the announcement on the first day of the First Test at Edgbaston was a sign of “unbridled arrogance” on the part of Ben Stokes.
England had declared their first innings on 393 for eight despite Joe Root’s unbeaten 118, and the hosts could have easily scored more, which could have given them a psychological advantage.
The decision to declare was criticized by many experts and Australia went on to win a thrilling Test by two wickets.
Jeeves, who has played one ODI and two T20Is for Australia and has been a successful first-class bowler, said that “Bazball” – a term coined for England’s aggressive, results-oriented style of play – was unlikely to work against Australia.
“(Baseball) puts them (England) on the brink of failure and to me it’s like ‘even if we lose we play our best cricket and win anyway,'” Jeeves told Radio Sin on Saturday.
“That’s not how he works. Particularly against Australia in the Ashes,” said the 41-year-old.
He said it was “disrespectful” on the part of England manager Brendon McCollum to tell his players he was proud of them despite the defeat. Jeeves felt that the coach was undermining the Australians’ efforts by saying this.
“There was[an]article I was reading that quotes Brendon McCollum in terms of their loss, they’re in the locker rooms and Brendon spoke first saying; ‘Guys, I’m so proud of the effort you guys put in. We made the match what it was. We were so close to an incredible victory. We have played all cricket in the game. If it weren’t for us the Australians wouldn’t have had a chance to win.”
“It’s just a really disrespectful approach to Pat Cummins and their run-chase performance and their ability to keep England at 276 in the best batting conditions in the game.”
Australia’s captain Cummins scored an unbeaten 44 and partner Nathan Lyon 16 not out, when the chips were down, to take the guests to the winning target of 282 set by England.
Jeeves noted that Australia had a few tricks up their sleeve and would continue to improve as the five-Test series progressed.
“Australia is still seeing some improvement. They’re going to get a bit more out of their batting list as the series progresses, and strategically if they can get their mindset right from a fielding and strategic point of view, I think they’ll do very well.”
Particularly if England had the mentality of unbridled arrogance and that was what this declaration was. It would have been arrogance to think that (8/393) was enough in the first innings on a very flat wicket.
“And yes, for sure, they (Australia) won the match on the back of the Englishmen’s absurdly stupid statement. There is no doubt that England played a part in their victory.” He said that had England not declared and scored another 50-60 runs, they could have knocked Australia out of the competition.
“They (England) would come back the next day and try another 50 or 60 runs that would have knocked Australia out of the game, and only one team would have been able to win the match had they made 450 or 460,” he said.
“It’s because of the arrogance surrounding their style of the game. You don’t do that in Test cricket. You don’t do that in Test cricket. You don’t do that in a five-day match when Joe Root isn’t out 118,” declared No. 8/393. The second test starts at Lord’s on 28 June.
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