Former England captain Nasser Hussain blasted the recently-crowned World Champions after they were dismissed for a paltry 85 on the first day of the four-day Test against Ireland at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground on Wednesday. Joe Root won the toss and elected to bat under blue skies but the morning belonged to Ireland, and in particular Tim Murtagh who ripped through the England order to claim an astonishing five for 13 in nine overs.

It is the first time England have been bowled out before lunch at Lord’s on the opening morning and their lowest test innings at home since 1997 against Australia. England have been playing at Lord’s since 1884. Following the dismal performance, Hussain hit out at the English batsmen after their spineless show against an inspired Irish bowling attack.

“Time and again, we’ve seen the Test batting line-up struggle,” Hussain wrote in his column for the Daily Mail. “How often are they 30 for three, or worse? How often do we end up examining their technical failings? On a day like this, those failings were plain for everyone to see.”

“The mindset in white-ball cricket, as we’ve just seen at the World Cup, is very different.

“But in red-ball cricket, bowlers pick up on the repetitive nature of dismissals. Across a five-Test Ashes series, against bowlers of the quality of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, that becomes a problem,” Hussain added.

Hussain also stated England haven’t found the right replacements for former greats Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook.

“English cricket has done a lot of things right over the last few years. Look at the World Cup. But finding an adequate Test top order following the retirements of Andrew Strauss, then Alastair Cook, is not one of them,” former England captain wrote.

((With agency inputs))

First Published: Jul 25, 2019 12:12 IST