Published: Aug 24, 2013, 09:45 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 24, 2013, 09:45 PM (IST)
Michael Vaughan felt England’s strategy to drop the anchor on Day Three of The Oval Test hands Australia the momentum ahead of the return Ashes © Getty Images
Aug 24, 2013
Former skipper Michael Vaughan expressed his concern over England’s negative tactics at the Oval and said that it could backfire and hand Australia the momentum ahead of the return Ashes to be played towards the end of the year.
“The Australians could potentially take more positives than the England side,” Vaughan said on the BBC.
“They’ve found more shape in their batting order and know more about their bowlers. Look at Old Trafford, Australia won pretty much all the sessions bar one where Kevin Pietersen made his hundred.
“In this Test they’ve won quite a lot of sessions so basically 80 per cent of the sessions since Old Trafford, they’ve won. The difference between the two teams is England have been able to cope when it’s really mattered and Australia haven’t. But the sides are a lot closer than we thought they were going to be.”
Having sealed the series 3-0, England had very little to lose on Day Three at The Oval. Yet, they dropped anchor and were content at scoring at a slow rate.
At stumps on the third day, the hosts were on 247 for four, still trailing the Australian total by 245 runs.
