Ashes 2023: England have psychological advantage over Australia, says Ian Bell

Former England batter Ian Bell reckons the Ben Stokes-led team has a psychological advantage against Australia despite their two-wicket loss in the opening Ashes Test at Birmingham, Edgbaston. Australia registered a thrilling win after Pat Cummins scored an unbeaten knock of 44 runs whereas Nathan Lyon contributed 16 in the run-chase of 281.

In fact, Bell feels Australia looked scared of England in the opening Test. Pat Cummins had a defensive field in the first essay from the outset after the hosts got off to a flying start. Ergo, there were easy singles to be picked and England’s batters didn’t miss that opportunity. England scored aggressively in the first innings and Stokes decided to declare at 393-8 after 78 overs.

“I’d go as far to say that Australia has more to work on,” Bell said, as quoted by wisden.com. “After the first two days at Edgbaston, I was amazed at how passive Australia was. It was like England used to play the Ashes series in the really bad old days. Australia looked scared. I saw that in two examples.

“First, in the field setting for England’s batters in the first innings. They had sweepers out on the off- and on-side after three overs. I’d never seen anything like it and as someone who has experienced the pressure cooker of an Ashes series – I won five out of seven – being afforded an easy option for a single as a batter like that would have been unheard of.”

Bell, who had a flamboyant cover drive during his heydays, added that Australia took the aggressive approach when they had nothing to lose and Brendon McCullum will pick up on this point.

“As I said, I think England’s intent has unnerved Australia and the only time they showed any aggression themselves was when Alex Carey was out in that extraordinary final innings,” Bell said.

“Basically, they only played in England’s style when they knew they were beaten and they had nothing to lose. Psychologically, that is fascinating. Brendon McCullum will pick up on that.”

England dominated the majority of the opening game but they could not get the job done towards the end when they needed two more wickets with 54 runs in the bank. The second Ashes Test will be played at Lord’s, from June 28 onwards.