After a break of a full week, the England and Australia players will resume their quest to win the precious Urn in the second Test of the Ashes 2023 series, which will kick-start on Wednesday, at the iconic Lord’s venue.
It is the pitch that is the talking point two days out from the start of the game as the images of the surface to be used at Lord’s have left people divided.
On Monday, pictures of the Lord’s surface started to go viral. In the images taken up close, there is plenty of grass covering on the entire surface. And while this image is taken two days before the start of the match, some grass is expected to be trimmed down, this is still a scary sight for any batsman.
Fans gave their opinion on these lush green-looking surface. Some said that England have prepared this seam-friendly pitch for the second Test after failing to bowl Australia out in the second innings of the first Test in Edgbaston, where Australia won by 2 wickets with the 9th wicket pair of Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins recording a half-century stand and taking Australia over the line in a thrilling run-chase.
Others opined that this green looking surface, which is expected to assist the seamers heavily, could backfire on England as their batters will bat with the aggressive Bazball approach and they could get out trying to play the laterally moving balls.
Here are some of the reactions on the first look of the Lord’s pitch for 2nd Ashes Test:
https://twitter.com/swiatekburner/status/1673310477299101699?s=20
One-off game typical England is back with a bang. 😂 We'll see what's going to happen. Australia has some solid swing bowling, and even England does too, considering the Bazball approach. England will be on the safer side.
— Yashwanth (@iamyashwanth_11) June 26, 2023
Isko bazzball wale chilwa denge
— Bobadiya dada,Ph.D. Scholar (The Cricket Analyst) (@Truthse87001975) June 26, 2023
Oz cows and Kangaroos 🐄 🦘 needs to get active.
— Raj 🕶️🕺 (@AndeDursu) June 26, 2023
https://twitter.com/husain_tweets18/status/1673312307571740672?s=20
Not even a week England back to aukat
— RICK ♞ (@RickAlt0n) June 26, 2023
Tbh Australia would be more happy with this
— Swastik🧃🧃🧃 (@Obliviate017) June 26, 2023
Where is the pitch? I think that's the task for the both teams
— Ahmad Hassan Kayan! (@kayaniahmad4) June 26, 2023
Clouderson 5 wkt haul loading 🤣🤣
— Arpan Bajpai (@ArpanBajpai10) June 26, 2023
Pat Cummins https://t.co/h4YJtOCMXl pic.twitter.com/CrqgBFmAc5
— Rishabh (@Pun_Intended___) June 26, 2023
Bazballs were kicked very badly in first test . Aussies going to cut the balls in second one 😉 https://t.co/XhUU8Eo7le
— Ritvik💎 (@ritvikindeed) June 26, 2023
yeah, right. like eng is gonna leave this much grass before the match! https://t.co/EXgWADkOiq
— Ankit Sharma (@ankit_sharmank) June 26, 2023
Meanwhile, legendary England pacer James Anderson criticized the lifeless, dull pitch in Edgbaston. Playing in his 180th career Test match, James Anderson returned with figures of 1/53 and 0/56. There was not much movement off the surface for the pacers.
“If all the pitches are like that I’m done in the Ashes series. That pitch was like kryptonite for me. There was not much swing, no reverse swing, no seam movement, no bounce and no pace,” he wrote in his Daily Telegraph column.
“I’ve tried over the years to hone my skills so I can bowl in any conditions but everything I tried made no difference. I felt like I was fighting an uphill battle. There was a bit of rustiness but I gave it everything I could. I know I have more to offer and contribute to the team. I want to make up for it at Lord’s.
