Former England player Kevin Pietersen lashed out at England on how they carried themselves on and off the field on Day 1 of the second Ashes Test at the Lord’s on Wednesday, June 28 as well. He also questioned the bowling unit for their poor show when the match started on bowling-friendly (overcast) conditions.
Kevin Pietersen told Sky Sports: “Are you telling me, Ricky Ponting, in 2005 is going to be talking to Geraint Jones? Do you think Michael Vaughan is going to be standing next to Justin Langer, saying, ‘Hey, mate! What a cool day! Look at this, it’s overcast, beautiful. What an awesome day. I mean environment here at Lord’s, what do you think of the wicket?’”
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He continued: “Are you joking? I just hope they are in their dressing room and the England coach is giving them the biggest hammering and saying, ‘It’s not good enough.’ You cannot bowl that here today. You can’t have these conditions, declare for 393. Do you think Australia [are] declaring today? No chance.”
However, Kevin Pietersen was disappointed with the pace bowlers for bowling with a speed of around 125 to 128 kmph. He further added that the bowling unit didn’t look confident enough as well.
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“From an English perspective, it’s absolutely shambolic. You have overhead conditions, a wicket that suits your bowlers and you got bowlers running in at 78, 79, 80 miles an hour. Now, it’s one thing walking here, swanning around and saying, ‘Hey, this is a wonderful team to play in, we are creating the best environment,’ but this is not Ashes cricket. I’ve played Ashes cricket. I’ve played 30 Test matches against Australia. You know Australian players [openers] were outside to bat before the English bowlers. The English bowlers this morning should have been on those stairs, saying, ‘We desperately wanna bowl out Australia.’ These two Australian batters are out there waiting for England. They [Australian batters] are the ones who should have been in the room saying, ‘No, no! Hold on, we don’t wanna bat,’ and, it’s all too easy and nice,” he concluded.
