England has rocked the Ashes series on day one by making the massive decision to leave Stuart Broad out of the XI.
That leaves the tourists with an inexperienced bowling line-up of Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson and spinner Jack Leach to combat Australia’s star-studded batting line-up that includes Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and David Warner.
It’s the first time England have played an Ashes Test without either of their pace bowling spearheads, Broad and James Anderson since 2006. Anderson was controversially rested from the side after England yesterday squashed speculation that he would miss the first Test due to an injured calf.
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Broad in particular has had a huge impact on recent Ashes, becoming Warner’s personal nightmare in the 2019 series, dismissing the fiery opener seven times.
Naturally, the decision to take Warner’s tormentor out of the attack drew criticism from Australian pundits, given the 35-year-old is one of the most prized wickets in world cricket.
Former Australian quick Brett Lee described the selection call as “absolutely crazy”.
“Twelve times he’s been dismissed, David Warner, by Stuart Broad,” Lee said.
“And in the last series, 2019 over in the UK, David Warner out seven times, faced 104 deliveries and only scored 35 runs.
“Warner had no idea.”
Lee’s fellow former Australian Test quick Damien Fleming added; “No Broad … I reckon Aussie left handers would be happy with that.”
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The decision to leave Broad and Anderson out of the side for the first Test drew further condemnation from the commentators as England slumped into a mini crisis in the first hour of play, with Rory Burns (0) dismissed by Mitchell Starc with the first ball of the day and No.3 Dawid Malan (6) and skipper Joe Root (0) following him back to the pavilion shortly afterwards.
When Root was dismissed by a pearler of a delivery from Josh Hazlewood, England were 3/11 and the captain must have been wondering if winning the toss and batting under grey skies was a wise decision.
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