Kevin Pietersen CRITICISES Ben Stokes for his bold decision to declare innings on Day 1 in Ashes

The 'Bazball' playing Test team made the bold move to declare their innings right when they reached 393-8 in just 78 overs.

Kevin Pietersen CRITICISES Ben Stokes for his bold decision to declare innings on Day 1 in Ashes

Ben Stokes, Kevin Pietersen (Images via The Guardian and Twitter)

England Test skipper Ben Stokes‘ decision to declare the innings on Day 1 of the 2023 Ashes series did not go down well with former England skipper Kevin Pietersen. Pietersen was left in confusion as he expected England to cross at least 400. The ‘Bazball’ playing Test team made the bold move to declare their innings right when they reached 393-8 in just 78 overs on Friday (June 16) at Edgbaston in Birmingham.

It was a surprise call from Stokes and coach Brendon Mccullum as Joe Root was still not out in 118. England would have reached 450 on that pitch which received flak for being too flat. Kevin Pietersen expressed his disappointment saying he did not like the declaration.

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“I don’t think that’s the nature of his captaincy (in and out fields from Stokes). It’s difficult to answer because we did not see much in it this evening,” Pietersen said on Sky Sports.

“We will find out if it’s the right thing to have done. I always got told 400…get to 400, 450 in the four innings of Test match. It’s psychological. Maybe I am being too critical, I don’t know, we will see,” he added.

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Ashes Day 1 match recap

Ashes Day 1 match recap
Joe Root (Image via Twitter)

Talking about the match England won the toss and opted to bat first. England, right from the word go, started showing their aggressive brand of cricket. Apart from Joe Root’s unbeaten 118*, Zak Crawley scored 61 off 73, Ollie Pope added 31 off 44, while Jonny Bairstow scored 78 off 78 balls.

Australia resumed their batting at 14/0 on Day 2 with the openers Usman Khawaja and David Warner. They will also try to make good use of the pitch. The hosts will be making sure their early declaration will not favor Pat Cummins and Co. and will hand the ball to James Anderson to grab quick wickets.

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