England looks a better-balanced side with Stuart Broad in the team: Shane Warne

Legendary Australian cricketer Shane Warne has said that he would have preferred England pacer Stuart Broad over Ollie Robinson in the ongoing third Ashes Test match in Melbourne. Earlier, the visitors made four changes to the squad for the must-win Boxing Day Test. England brought Jonny Bairstow, Zak Crawley, Mark Wood, and Jack Leach into the playing XI. Ollie Pope, Rory Burns, Stuart Broad, and Chris Woakes were left out.

Broad played only in the second Test match in Adelaide and picked up just two wickets. Meanwhile, Robinson has featured in two Test matches and has picked seven wickets at an average of 24.29. However, Warne feels Broad should have played in Melbourne. The former leg spinner further opined that the England pacer would have provided a good balance to the team.

“England looks a better-balanced side – but I would have played @StuartBroad8 instead of Robinson & Pope looks a good player to me, but Bairstow had to play. Pope will play a lot of test cricket. Aussies will welcome back @patcummins30 & good luck to S Boland on debut, he’s good,” tweeted Warne.

England looks a better balanced side – but I would have played @StuartBroad8 instead of Robinson & Pope looks a good player to me, but Bairstow had to play. Pope will play a lot of test cricket. Aussies will welcome back @patcummins30 & good luck to S Boland on debut, he’s good

— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) December 25, 2021

Meanwhile, the Boxing Day Test got underway on Sunday (December 26) and the hosts are bossing the game. After winning the toss, skipper Pat Cummins decided to bowl first. The change in the batting order didn’t yield favorable results as Haseeb Hameed and Crawley departed for 0 and 12 respectively. The onus yet again fell on in-form batting duo Dawid Malan and Joe Root to resurrect the England innings.

Advantage Australia already on Day 1

Malan failed to get going as he could score 14 runs. However, skipper Joe Root continued his good form in Test matches in 2021. The right-hand batter brought some semblance to the innings and got to his 50. Pacer Mitchell Starc though struck with a decisive blow and sent back Root. The visitors could not recover from that blow and lost two more wickets in the form of Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler.

At the tea break, England had lost six wickets with just 128 onboard. Cummins picked three wickets for hosts, while Lyon, Starc and Cameron Green picked one wicket each.  Australia are leading the Ashes series 2-0.