England against India: Michael Vaughan “staggered” by the decision to launch headingley
Vaughan, who celebrated England to victory in the Ashes of 2005, believes that Stokes should have given more credibility to the conditions on Friday morning when he made his decision.
“You must always choose your decisions at that time, and not things you have done here years ago or at other times. It cannot affect the decision today,” he said.
“You look at the side of England and their strength is in the stick. And there is inexperience in the bowling alley at the moment. Well had a intestinal feeling, and sometimes it worked.”
The rapid Bowling Consultant of England, Tim Southee, explained that the decision was partly affected by the green color of the field on Thursday.
“With the color of the counter yesterday, and a little humidity remained if there was a little help, it was probably going to be this morning,” said the New Zealander. “It was thought behind the decision.
“You look at the surface and make the decision on what you think you are giving yourself the best chance. Not all the time, you get things correctly.”
There are infamous examples of captains of England which first choose a field, only for the decision to turn around.
Nasser Hussain did it during the first ash test against Australia in Brisbane in 2002 and England never recovered. David Gower inserted the Australians into this field in 1989, only for tourists to accumulate 601-7 declared.
On the other hand, Stokes himself asked New Zealand to fight first at Trent Bridge first in 2022. The Black Caps stacked 553, but England finished a fourth round race with the kind authorization of Jonny Bairstow, the first example of “Bazball”.
Consequently, the wisdom of Stokes’ decision in this test will be revealed during the following four days and will be strongly influenced by the way in which England plays the maestro in the event of rhythm of India Jasprit Bumrah.
“It was a good field, so it’s not easy to restrict the races,” said Vaughan. “Ben Stokes is still positive and he will come back tomorrow by saying seven golets.
“We will not know it with certainty before seeing Jasprit Bumrah Bowl on it. He can make you bowling with anything. Until I see this, I will keep my judgment on the platform of this land.”
