Former England captain Nasser Hussain said that England must be fully prepared during their next Australia tour. The veteran commentator added that the tourists must combine pace with skill as well. However, England captain Ben Stokes had indicated at the start of their home season that they are preparing the side to win in Australia as well. Notably, they haven’t won a Test match Down Under since 2011, and suffered losses by margins of 5-0, 4-0, and 4-0 in their last three visits as well.
With England claimed the Richards-Botham Trophy by beating the West Indies in Nottingham, Hussain added that Gus Atkinson and
Mark Wood should be fixed for the tour Down Under as well.
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“Pace isn’t everything, of course. Go to Australia and spray it around and you will go around the park. The ideal combination down under is pace and skill, as Gus Atkinson showed in the first match of the series and as Mark Wood, despite not taking the wickets he deserved, did here. England can’t afford to get to Australia and then say ‘same old, same old’. You need to find out an answer in advance,” he stated.
However, England had the task of defending 385 on a docile wicket at Trent Bridge on Day 4 and they won by 241 runs as young Shoaib Bashir took a fifer. Reacting to Shoaib Bashir’s five-wicket haul, Hussain added that the 20-year-old got the ball to drop and turn, making it easy to take wickets as well.
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“Having one eye on the present but also one on the future is why England have gone for Shoaib Bashir. Not since Muttiah Muralitharan in 2006 had a spinner taken a five-for in a Test in Nottingham. And he got his rewards because he did the two things you want to see from your off-spinner — he got lovely drop on the ball to take the left-hander’s edge for the dismissal of Alick Athanaze and bowled Jason Holder with a beauty. It will have done him, and all the England bowlers, some good playing here,” Nasser Hussain concluded.
