On June 16 at Edgbaston, Australia will play England in what could be one of the most heated battles of all time. When these two cricketing giants meet, fans all over the world will be looking forward to some epic fights between the bat and the ball. The tourists will try to keep the title they won when the Ashes were in their home country, while the hosts will try to get over the fact that they lost the 2021-22 Ashes by a score of 4-0.
Allan Border, a famous cricketer, wants Australians and Steve Smith in particular to bring back the team’s resolve, just like his team did in his time. This series has a lot more at stake than the last one. The 67-year-old said this because Australia was too nice to India in the recent Test series that just ended.
Earlier this year, when the spinners fooled Steve Smith during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India, the Australian star would quickly give them a thumbs-up to show his appreciation. Smith had also done this many times before to show how much he appreciated the player.
“You can have friendly competition without going too far, like [Steve] Smith. In India, he gave the thumbs up every time he got a good ball. I would play with more force. We [Aussies] play cricket in a certain way. “It was tough, but fair,” he told the Daily Mail.
The former Australian captain who won the World Cup also said that their rivals across the Tasman, New Zealand, act like “Mr. Nice Guy” on the field, while Australians are known for being aggressive and playing hard but fair cricket.
You want to play the game because you want to see how good you are against the best: McCullum
In the English camp, head coach Brendon McCullum thinks his team has good players for the big games with a lot of pressure. Also, he stressed that the reason people play cricket is to compete against the best.
“I think our team and their team are both good enough for it to be a heavyweight match, so I’m excited about that. The Australians are tough opponents.You want to play the game because of this. You want to be tested against the best, and that’s what we have coming up in the next couple of months,” McCullum said.