Australia snatched a two-wicket win over England in an Ashes epic at Edgbaston to take a 1-0 collection lead; Nasser Hussain, Ricky Ponting and Kevin Pietersen debate the totally different approaches the groups utilised and what it means for the remaining 4 Tests within the collection

Pat Cummins had barely hit the successful runs within the first Test of this 12 months’s Ashes collection earlier than the talk over the conflict of types between England and Australia fired up.

At Edgbaston, the extra conventional strategy to five-day, red-ball cricket from the vacationers narrowly triumphed over the aggressive and entertaining ‘Bazball’ strategy employed by the hosts.

Ben Stokes’ daring resolution to declare on the finish of the primary day, his inventiveness in setting fields on a pitch providing little for the bowlers and England’s aggressive strategy with the bat underlined their intent to hold on with the strategy which has served them effectively previously 12 months.

But it was his reverse quantity Cummins who was celebrating on the finish of day 5, with all questions on his defensive strategy within the subject and choices to depart Mitchell Starc out of the group forgotten about as Australia took a 1-0 collection lead with a two-wicket win.

Afterwards, Sky Sports‘ pundits gave their views on the totally different strategy from England and Australia, and what it means for the remainder of the collection.

Ricky Ponting: England have probably the most inquiries to reply

“I think England have got the most questions to answer. Their style of play: Is it going to hold up in an Ashes series?

“By no means am I saying that England’s technique is flawed, I’ve beloved watching them play, however it simply goes to indicate there may be multiple method to pores and skin a cat.

“This is a long and hard game. Australia’s method has stood up and it has worked.

“I need this collection to be performed the identical means and I do know Ben and Brendon [McCullum, England head coach] will play the identical means, which provides much more to subsequent week.”

Nasser Hussain: Australia showed why they are World Test Champions

“It’s superb; for four-and-a-half days, everybody has been speaking concerning the Australian model of play.

“It was a saying in the dressing room, ‘you only win, if you win.’ Everything else is nonsense.

“Once you win the sport, your model of play, the defensive fields, the aspect you chose, it labored. When you lose, ‘Bazball’, the declaration, every part else will get questioned.

“It was a fabulous game of cricket. I applaud the players. This place was sold out for five days – and everyone that came here will want to come back to Test match cricket. And in this era when Test cricket is vulnerable, you have to keep one eye on that.

“You cannot disguise behind that. Obviously they may have needed to win and they are going to be massively dissatisfied.

“They lost [the final Test] in New Zealand, remember. I know they’ve beaten Ireland in between, but there’s two games of cricket they could have won, should have won.

“And bear in mind we have overwhelmed Australia in England since 2001 [drawn in 2019], taking part in the old style means. We did not want Bazball to beat Australia.

“The only think I’ll say is, they showed why they’re World Test Champions, they showed why they’re the number one side in the world. They’ve got some serious players and some seriously tough players.

“And they’re going to be massively happy. Because nevertheless good they have been about it [Bazball] in press conferences and interviews, they may have been in that dressing room – if I do know the Australians – saying, ‘you’ll be able to’t do this in opposition to us.'”

Kevin Pietersen: England followers desire a win

“I don’t think we can pick this team apart too much. The declaration is of course something which will be spoken about. However, the way both teams played, and for Test cricket as a whole with Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum identifying it needs some entertainment, we got it here this afternoon and we got it over the last five days.

“David Warner stated a number of the guys within the England dressing room had been ‘throwing their wickets away’ and he stated ‘we aren’t going to play that means’.

“That is also saying something from a senior player in the Australia side that they don’t think Test cricket can be played like this or should be played like this.

“English followers desire a win. Of course, they need to be entertained and the environment was nice. The recreation was tight and was a nail-biter, however the England followers need them to win. You can speak as a lot as you want, however in an Ashes collection it is about outcomes.”

The males’s Ashes resumes at Lord’s on Wednesday June 28 with the second of 5 Tests. Build-up begins on Sky Sports Cricket at 10am forward of the primary ball at 11am.