'England were hesitant, lacked intensity and their fielding was also shoddy' - Nasser Hussain reviews Day 1 at Lord's

Nasser Hussain, former England captain, harshly blasted Ben Stokes' led England team for their lack of passion and energy on the first day of the second Ashes Test at Lord's.

Australia had a great start as they amassed 339 runs for the loss of just five wickets only. David Warner (66), Travis Head (77), and Steve Smith (85*) all scored half-centuries as Australia made merry against England's bowling attack on Day 1 of the second Ashes Test.

According to Hussain, despite winning the toss, England were hesitant and their bowling attack lacked intensity; the pace of each of the five seam bowlers was not up to the mark, and they didn't bowl the bouncers to mix things up. Additionally, their fielding was shoddy and they dropped catches as well. The spark wasn't there, Hussain wrote in his Daily Mail column.

"Where was the urgency? There was a lot of conversation when the Just Stop Oil protest took place, and as it started to rain, they moved upstairs and remained there when the Australian batters were waiting on the steps at the base of the pavilion."

"If the umpires call you back in those soggy conditions, you want to be racing on right away as a fielding team, bowling as much as you can," he wrote in his column.

Considering the positives for England on an all-around forgettable day, Hussain commended pacer Josh Tongue, describing him as the standout performer among the bowlers, and said that his performance stood out as a rare highlight in an otherwise bad day at the office for the English side.

Josh Tongue was England's pick of the quick bowlers on the day, removing both of Australia's openers with superb deliveries to end the day with statistics of 2/88.

"Tongue's wicket of David Warner from around the wicket was a wonderful display of quick bowling, It was a brave selection to play Josh Tongue on a green top wicket when they could have just as easily chosen Chris Woakes, a good all-round cricketer with a fine record on this venue. However, it was a rare positive in what was generally a lack of intensity from England" added Hussain.