'Are you joking?': Kevin Pietersen lashes out at England players for performance in Ashes 2023 second Test

Kevin Pietersen

Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen lashed out at the England team for their lacklustre performance against Australia on the first day of the second Test match of the Ashes 2023 series on Wednesday.

Australia's batters exerted their dominance on the first day and managed to put up a score of 339/5 with Smith (85') and Alex Carey (11') unbeaten at the crease.

After the stumps, Pietersen didn't hold back and criticised the England players for the performance that they put out on the field.

"You cannot declare for 390. You think Australia are declaring today? You think Australia are getting 390 today and saying 'England, go have a bat'? No chance," Pietersen said as quoted by Sky Sports.

Even during the Tea, Pietersen was quite vocal about the performance they put up over the two sessions and called it 'shambolic'.

"It's been shambolic, absolutely shambolic. You have overcast conditions, you have a wicket that suits your bowlers and you've got bowlers running in at 78, 79, 80 mph," Pietersen said.

"It's one thing walking in here, swanning around and saying hey, this is a wonderful team to play in, we're creating the best environment, but this is not Ashes cricket. The Australians here were outside to bat before the English bowlers [after a rain break]. The English bowlers this morning should have been on those stairs saying we want to bowl at Australia, we're desperate to bowl at Australia," he added.

"Are you telling me, Ricky Ponting, in 2005 is going to be talking to Geraint Jones? You think Michael Vaughan is going to be standing next to Justin Langer and saying, hey man, what a cool day, what an awesome day and environment here at Lord's?"

"Are you joking? Are you absolutely joking? I just hope they're in their dressing room now and the England coach [Brendon McCullum] is giving them the biggest hammering and saying it's not good enough. It's absolutely not good enough," Pietersen signed off.

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If it wasn't for the part-time bowler Joe Root's double dismissals to remove Travis Head (77) and Cameron Green (0) late in the day, we wouldn't have seen Australia slip from 316-3 to 316-5. Smith and Carey guided the visitors without losing any wickets through to the stumps.

Former England captain Andrew Strauss pointed out this fact and said, "They will be bitterly disappointed as they had a great opportunity and they fluffed their lines. Those two wickets from Root at the end of the day rescued England from it being a truly awful day to just a bad one."

Australia will be looking to extend their domination on the second day with Smith and Carey looking to take charge with the bat on Thursday.

(With ANI inputs)