Former skipper Nasser Hussain has picked his England Xl for the first Ashes Test against Australia to be played at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground from August 1.
Nasser Hussain is one of the British cricket commentators, who has captained the England team from 1999 to 2003, had made a hat-trick of leading England to win 17 of 45 test matches.
Hussain who went for picking up Egland’s Xl has made everyone to get surprised with his selection. Archer, who was England’s leading wicket-taker in the recently concluded World Cup, was out of the Hussain’s Xl.
Archer, who defended 15 runs in the Super Over to help England win their first World Cup trophy, is expected to be handed his maiden Test call by England for the Ashes series.
Hussain felt there should be specialist openers in Test cricket and that’s why he went for the limited-overs opener Jason Roy to bat at No.4 or 5. He also felt that Test Capitan Joe Root to bat at No.3 and Roy pushed at down the order to adjust their selection in the Test.
“I would go with a different top three. I would bat Joe Root at three and look to have Roy coming in at four or five. There is a difference between red-ball and white-ball cricket and Alastair Cook has said the red Dukes ball has done more in England over the last couple of years than at any time in his career,” – Hussain said.
“I have no problem with Roy opening because everyone wants to bat in the middle order and Root doesn’t want to move from four. There is no doubting Roy’s ability and he could well come off.” – Hussain added.
Hussain went for Jonny Bairstow as the side’s wicket-keeper instead of Jos Buttler. He said he was worried about the players’ burnout and recalled the 2015 Ashes that had left Buttler exhausted.
Nasser Hussain’s England Xl for first Ashes:
- Rory Burns
- Joe Denly
- Joe Root (c)
- Jason Roy
- Ben Stokes
- Jos Buttler
- Jonny Bairstow (wk)
- Moeen Ali
- Chris Woakes
- Stuart Broad
- James Anderson
