The former Australian left-arm orthodox spin bowler Xavier Doherty has blasted the Bazball brand of cricket from England in a scathing interview with SEN Tassie during the third Ashes Test match. The 40-year-old Tasmanian mentioned how he looked forward to witnessing England play this summer, but they turned out to be a bit of a flop.
During the third Ashes Test match at Headingley, which began on July 6, Thursday, Australia is currently leading England by 142 runs with six wickets remaining in the second innings before the start of play on day 3. After losing the toss on day 1, the Australians had posted 263 on the scoreboard, while in response, the English finished with a total of 237 midway through day 2.
Talking with SEN Tassie, Xavier Doherty was quoted as saying, “I went into this Ashes series looking forward to BazBall and this exciting brand of cricket that England play and it’s turned out to be a bit of a flop, I reckon. I think it’s just an excuse for them to go out and do whatever they want with no accountability and just be reckless.”
“England have at times played some really good cricket and then just do something awfully stupid and then just say, ‘ah well, that’s all just part of it’. At the moment during this Test, they’ve got themselves in a reasonable position… but outside Ben Stokes, they’ve generally just been reckless and thrown the game back in favour of Australia,” remarked the former Australian cricketer.
Xavier Doherty labels Australia as favourites to win the Ashes
Apart from criticising the BazBall approach from England, Xavier Doherty called Australia favourites to win the Ashes. The visitors are currently 2-0 up in the series, while in the third Test match at Headingley, they are in a strong position to drive home the advantage and be victorious at the very end. “It looks pretty clear cut that Australia will come home with the Ashes,” Xavier Doherty opined on SEN Tassie.
