A few eyeballs were raised when England decided to declare at 393-8 against Australia on the first day of an Ashes series that got off to an exciting start at Edgbaston.
Joe Root's skillful unbeaten 118 recovered England from a middle order disaster that allowed skipper Ben Stokes to make history with the earliest first-innings declaration in Ashes history playing just 78 overs.
Earlier the record was held by Australia when the baggie-greens declared in the 66th over back in 1937. However, back then it was an eight-ball over which means the 2023 feat is the new record.
However, the third, fourth and fifth earliest Ashes declarations were all done by England in 90th, 102nd, & 104th overs at Lord's (1912), and Nottingham (1965 and 1956).
While some criticised Stokes' decision the legends of the game Ricky Ponting and Sir Geoffrey Boycott have put their weight behind the English skipper.
What did Ricky Ponting & Sir Geoffrey Boycott say?
England icon Sir Geoffrey Boycott wrote: “Brave but now they have to make it work.”
Whereas, former Australian skipper Ponting "loved" the brave call.
“We were sort of expecting it, weren’t we? They were up with the scoring rate and had a chance to get the Australians out for 15-20 minutes tonight. I love it, to be honest. That’s all about Ben Stokes and the new attitude of this current England regime under Stokes and McCullum,” Ponting was quoted as saying to the official broadcasters.
“They are doing everything to take the game forward and give themselves the best chance of winning games. They are trying to capitalise and seize the moment,” he added.
Meanwhile, England's wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow admitted that the decision took him by surprise and had to "scramble to get tape on, pads on".
"We didn’t know anything about it (the declaration), it was a scramble to get the tape on, the pads on and all the rest. But when it’s something that’s not expected, it can be the best form of attack. We’ll come back tomorrow with a ball that’s four overs old, a fresh bowling attack and team that is really looking forward to the challenge," he stated.
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