Ashes 2023 starts with the first Test in Birmingham on June 16. However, two veterans from Australia and England are already at loggerheads with each other. Australia are the defending champions of the Ashes having won 4-0 at home during the 2021-22 season.
Recently veteran England pacer Stuart Broad has responded to Mitchell Starc‘s claim that England players during previous Ashes were not in quarantine as they had access to the pool, the gym and stayed in a resort at Gold Coast. The response looked very determined from Borad who was not shy of taking a dig at the Aussie pacer.
How Many Test Matches Did Starcy Play: Stuart Broad On Mitchell Starc
“How many Test matches did Starcy play away from home during Covid? Trying to do the maths on it. Zero wasn’t it?” Broad wrote in a comment on Barmy Army’s Instagram which had Starc’s quote.
Broad had earlier discounted England’s 0-4 loss in the last Ashes series as it was not played under regular playing conditions. He said that the performances of the players were affected due to the covid restrictions in the country.
“Nothing was harsher than the last Ashes series. But in my mind, I don’t class that as a real Ashes,” Broad was quoted as saying to the Daily Mail last month.
“Nothing about that series was high-level performance because of the COVID restrictions. The training facilities, the travel, not being able to socialise. I’ve written it off as a void series,” he further added.
Broad’s response inflicted a response from Starc in return who said England players were not confined to their rooms, had top-notch facilities at their disposal, and even had families with them.
Quarantine On The Gold Coast: Mitchell Starc Takes A Dig At England Test Team
“The funniest thing out of that was they called it quarantine on the Gold Coast. I did seven of them. That was the easiest by a country mile,” Starc was quoted as saying to the Sydney Morning Herald.
“The Poms had the pool, the gym, they were in a resort on the Gold Coast, they trained at Metricon (now Heritage Bank Stadium), weren’t confined to their rooms and had their families there. Was that really quarantine? They were still allowed to play golf on tour. Is that an excuse for 4-0? Dunno. It was a pretty good series to be a part of,” he further added.
England have changed their approach to playing Test cricket since the last Ashes series. They have gone ahead with the “Bazball” approach blasting out their opposition by scoring heaps of runs. It will be interesting to see if they stick with the same approach.
Ashes 2023 Complete Schedule
Date
Format
Match
Venue
Time/IST
June 16-20
1st Test
England vs Australia
Birmingham
03:30 PM
June 28 – July 02
2nd Test
England vs Australia
Lord’s
03: 30 PM
July 06 – July 10
3rd Test
England vs Australia
Leeds
03: 30 PM
July 19 – July 23
4th Test
England vs Australia
Manchester
03: 30 PM
July 27 – July 31
5th Test
England vs Australia
The Oval
03: 30 PM
Also Read: Men’s Ashes 2023 To Begin On June 16 At Edgbaston
Virat Kohli | Rohit Sharma | Rishabh Pant | KL Rahul | Suryakumar Yadav | Sanju Samson | Shreyas Iyer | Yuzvendra Chahal | Jasprit Bumrah