Salman Butt slams England cricket team for early declaration in 1st Test of Ashes 2023

Former Pakistani skipper Salman Butt raised questions on the England team for its decision for an early declaration for Day 1 of the first Test of Ashes 2023 in Birmingham. Notably, England declared their first innings on 393 runs for the loss of 8 wickets inviting Australia to bat in the last 20 minutes of the day. However, the hosts went on to lose the match on Day 5 by 2 wickets.

Speaking on his Youtube Channel, Salman Butt said England underestimated Australia which cost them the match. He added that decision backfired England as they had a chance to score some extra runs with Joe Root still at the crease.

“England also made many mistakes. The declaration showed that they underestimated Australia. Their policy of doing things quickly won’t work against Australia because the latter isn’t an inexperienced team,” Salman said.

“They have experience, aggression and also aren’t someone whose focus is not Test cricket. Who knows, England might continue to do this still since they’re adamant about it,” he further added.

‘England didn’t pose any threat in their pace attack’ – Salman Butt

Speaking further, Salman also said that if England knew they were dishing out a flat pitch, they should have included pacer Mark Wood in their playing XI. He questioned England’s management for selecting Ollie Robinson ahead of Wood saying he won’t suddenly become ‘Mark Wood, neither will Anderson or Broad.’ In addition, he said that England didn’t produce any threat with their pace.

“If they had to use the short ball plot so much, why didn’t they play a proper speedster? Why all medium pacers? No matter how much short you bowl, the batters won’t get troubled at that pace. Ollie Robinson suddenly won’t become Mark Wood, neither will Anderson or Broad,” the former cricketer said.

“England didn’t pose any threat in their pace attack. If you knew the wicket was this flat and placid, then you should have played Mark Wood, who would have bent his back and could have made things happen. Moeen Ali’s finger getting injured only added to England’s problems,” he concluded.