England have no regrets at opting to bowl first in the Adelaide Test despite the call backfiring spectacularly.
Australia’s batsmen seized command of the second Test after being sent into bat, amassing 8-442 before declaring. The tourists are 1-29 in reply.
England captain Joe Root became the first captain electing to bowl first in an Adelaide Test since countryman Bob Willis in December 1982 – he lost that game by eight wickets.
And only one team in history has won an Adelaide Test after bowling first – the then-mighty West Indies in February 1982.
But England coach Trevor Bayliss is defending Root’s controversial decision.
“He wouldn’t do anything different,” Bayliss said.
“It’s well-documented that one of our challenges, I suppose, is taking wickets on flatter wickets.
“So Joe wanted to give our guys the best opportunity to take 20 wickets.
“On this occasion, it didn’t work out our way even though I thought we bowled pretty well. That is just the way it is, that is the game of cricket.”
Bayliss said choosing to bowl first “certainly wasn’t an easy decision”.
“It wasn’t taken lightly,” he said.
“But for us to win games, we have got to take 20 wickets and that is what Joe thought our best opportunity was – to bowl first on a fresh wicket.”
Saurebh Gandle
Roar Guru
It was a bad call but Steven Smith made a much bad call by not allowing Eng to bat again .
DavSA
Guest
It was crazy. No cognizance of history or statistics. I think it goes to England simply being afraid of facing the Aussies quicks in overcast conditions. It was an avoidance strategy. Moeen Ali although selected was struggling to recover from a finger injury . Was he trying to protect Ali from batting on day 1 allowing an extra days recovery ?