England looked jaded and this is their first day in the dirt of a five-match series over six weeks: Michael Vaughan

Former England international Michael Vaughan believes that the Ben Stokes-led side looked jaded on Day 2 of the first Test of the ongoing Ashes 2023. The 48-year-old also pointed out that the surface at Edgbaston is pretty slow, and thus, it has been difficult for the bowlers to create any significant impact.

Notably, England started really well with the ball as Stuart Board’s double whammy sent David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne back to the pavilion relatively early, and Steve Smith, too, failed to impress. Thus, they had the upper hand but Usman Khawaja, Travis Head and Alex Carey fought back brilliantly in the middle, helping the visiting team to make a brilliant comeback. 

Meanwhile, the home team will also be blaming themselves for missing several chances to put Australia under pressure. Stumper-batter Jonny Bairstow failed to stump Cameron Green early on, while Joe Root dropped Alex Carey’s catch when the prior was batting on 26. On top of that, Khawaja was given a second life after Broad got the better of him, but the umpire called it a no-ball. Thus, Vaughan believes that England were pretty poor on Day 2 and all these might come back to haunt them later in the match.

“England will be rueing those missed chances. And on this pitch, which is very flat, my concern is their bodies. They looked jaded and this is their first day in the dirt of a five-match series over six weeks. I was a bit concerned with Ollie Robinson today. He seemed to go off the pitch a lot. I’m not sure if there is an issue with his ankle,” Vaughan said on BBC’s Test Match Special.

“The problem is this pitch is so slow and hard for the seamers, when you are asked to bowl bouncers, it takes it out of you. If they are going to be playing on these pitches for the next six weeks then some of these seamers are going to be in a hole,” the former cricketer added.

Meanwhile, after a dreadful start, Australia found their mojo, as they are now only 82 runs behind after Day 2.