'Where's the aggression' - Herschelle Gibbs' dig at Australian bowlers after England's powerful start with bat on Day 2 of Lord's Test

The Ashes 2023 has been the talk of the town after a thrilling end to the first Test of the series at Edgbaston. Australia went 1-0 up in the series with a narrow win by two wickets and made the remaining matches a mouthwatering prospect for the fans. England and Australia are locking horns in the second Test of the series at Lord’s and the visitors have once again got a good start scoring 416 runs in the first innings.

However, despite conceding over 400 runs in the first innings, England continued with their aggressive brand of cricket, popularly known as ‘Bazball’. The opening duo of Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett got England to a good start scoring 80 runs in 16 overs of the innings. Seeing Australian bowlers in action in the Ashes, former South Africa cricketer Herschelle Gibbs was surprised to see their friendly side and recalled how they used to be aggressive during his playing days.

Gibbs took to Twitter and wrote, “Ozzie bowlers nice and friendly these days 😂 where’s the aggression gone.. #timeshavechanged."

Ozzie bowlers nice and friendly these days 😂 where’s the aggression gone.. #timeshavechanged

— Herschelle Gibbs (@hershybru) June 29, 2023

Notably, Gibbs played 90 Tests, 248 ODIs and 23 T20Is in his international career. The Cape Town-born cricketer averaged in 30s against Australia in both Tests and ODIs and scored four hundreds and ten fifties against them across all three formats. 

Gibbs scored his famous 175 vs Australia

His most famous knock also came against the Aussies during the fifth ODI of the series in March 2006 in Johannesburg. Gibbs played a mind-boggling knock of 175 off 111 balls smashing 21 fours and seven sixes in his innings. Courtesy of his knock, South Africa managed to pull off the greatest chase in ODI history and etched their name in history books by surpassing Australia’s 434 in the first innings.

Meanwhile, England were also heavily criticized for their friendly behaviour with Australia on Day 1 by former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen. The two teams have been playing the series in the right spirit so far and there hasn’t been any hostility witnessed on the pitch.