3 things England need to do right on Day 2 of 3rd Ashes 2023 Test

Day 1 of the third Ashes 2023 Test between England and Australia at Headingley in Leeds on Thursday was an action-packed one. As many as 13 wickets fell, with pacers enjoying help from the surface. There was a blazing counter-attack as well with the bat, while a number of catches also went down.

After winning the toss and bowling first, England had Australia in big trouble at 85/4, with their big batters back in the hunt. Mitchell Marsh then slammed a scintillating 118 at a run-a-ball to lift the visitors. Following his dismissal, though, Australia collapsed as the fiery Mark Wood (5/34) dismantled the Aussie lower order.

Australia were bowled out for a disappointing 263. However, Pat Cummins led a fightback for the visitors, dismissing Ben Duckett (2) and Harry Brook (3). Marsh followed up his blazing hundred with the wicket of Zak Crawley (33) as England went to stumps at 68/3, trailing Australia by 195 runs.

As the teams gear up for Day 2 at Headingley, here are three England need to do right.

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#1 Build a solid partnership in the first session

England will resume their first innings on Day 2 at Headingley with Joe Root unbeaten on 19 and Jonny Bairstow on 1.

While the English bowlers did a job on the opening day of the Test, the top-order batters could not consolidate on the same. As a result, England allowed Australia to claw back into the contest.

Considering the Test is a must-win one for England as they are 0-2 down, the hosts need a solid partnership in the first innings. They need to post a big score on the board and gain a significant lead to put pressure on Australia in the second innings.

Former captain Root had a poor Test at Lord’s, registering scores of 10 and 18. Being the lynchpin of the batting order, he will be expected to deliver a big performance.

Bairstow will also have a point to prove, putting behind all the controversy from the previous Test.

As for skipper Ben Stokes, he will be returning to the venue where he created magic four years back. England will need their big names to stand up on Day 2.

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#2 Put Bazball on the back burner for now

Despite suffering reverses in the first two Tests, England have maintained that they will not deviate from their ‘Bazball’ philosophy. However, with the Ashes on the line, they need to keep their ego aside and work towards what is beneficial for the team under the given circumstances.

The fact of the matter is that had England been a bit more sensible in the first two Tests of the series, they might well have been 2-0 up instead of Australia. However, their decision to declare on Day 1 at Edgbaston followed by the second-innings collapse cost them the opening Test.

At Lord’s, they recovered well from a poor start to restrict Australia to 416. However, their batters threw their wickets away by playing some silly strokes as England were bowled out for 325. In the second innings, despite Stokes’ genius, they fell well short of the target of 371.

One is not saying that England’s batters must go into their shell on Day 2. They shouldn’t and if the ball is there to be hit, they must attack those loose deliveries. However, the mistake that England’s batters must avoid is to play premeditated aggressive strokes just to prove that they have not deviated from the ‘Bazball’ path.

In short, England must play the bowling on merit and give credit to Australian bowlers where due.

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#3 Avoid distractions and concentrate on the task at hand

There was an intriguing period towards the close of play on Day 1 when Bairstow was constantly reminding Australian fielders of his controversial dismissal at Lord’s.

After the end of an over, the England keeper-batter stayed in his crease and even stared back at Alex Carey in a taunting manner. The Headingley crowd also got behind the batter.

It was clear that Bairstow wanted to pick up a fight, which was quite contrary to Stokes’ pre-match comments that England want to move on from the controversy. None of the Australian fielders seemed bothered about Bairstow’s antics and those hoping for some more drama were left disappointed.

While Bairstow survived till stumps, his ploy to try and unsettle some Aussies could have backfired. The batter could have easily lost concentration and played a poor stroke.

Having overcome the tricky period, Bairstow must avoid unnecessary distractions on Day 2 and should focus completely on the task at hand - that is to build a big partnership with Root.