Edgbaston groundsman Gary Barwell revealed that they have never received any formal request for the England team management to prepare flat and fast pitches for the first test against Australia in the much-anticipated Ashes 2023 starting on June 16.
England’s team is playing aggressive brand cricket in the longer format of the games as England has lost just 2 Test matches from 12 games. Their last test loss came against New Zealand in the 2-Test match series, where they lost the match by just 1 run, trying to chase down 258 runs on the final day.
Earlier Speaking to the media, Ben Stokes said that their team is very clear about the kind of pitches, they are going into the high-octane series, stating they having good conversations alongside the ground staff and said they want flat and fast wickets for the series against Australia, as they will look score big runs against the well-oiled Australian b0wling unit.
“We’ve been very clear, especially with the ground staff around England, about what type of wickets we want, And they’ve been very responsive to us which has been good”
“We want fast, flat wickets. We want to go out there and score quickly. It brings their [Australia’s] guys in, if they’ve got fast wickets to bowl on then they’ll be happy with that as well,” Ben Stokes said on Ashes 2023
England team hasn’t held the Ashes since 2015. However, their form has been outstanding in the past 12 months, giving them the best chance of regaining it. The Edgbaston Test against India in 2022 saw the hosts register their highest successful run-chase in the format with 378.
Speaking on the pitch for 1st test against Australia, Garg Barwell revealed that he wasn’t instructed anything about preparing fast and flat wickets and assured that the team wanted good pitches to play the game and said that he haven’t been advised to prepare pitches during his stint as the team always wanted to play cricket on a good wicket.
“I was on holiday in Miami and I got sent the clip,” Gary Barwell told The Guardian in an interview.
“I can 100% tell you I have never been told that. I know they want good pitches, that’s all I’ve heard, and I don’t think that’s unusual. I’ve never been asked to produce a pitch for England in all the time I’ve been here. I get asked to produce a good cricket wicket and that’s it,” he further added.
With England being one of the finest red-ball teams in the world cricket, they will look to put on a dominating show on their home soil to reclaim the prestigious Ashes whereas Australia will be equally keen to retain the Ashes, as this could be the last tour of most of their senior players in England, as the team will look to build on their next set of core players after the completion of Ashes 2023.