Ashes never fail to disappoint , when it happens in England. When it happens in Australia, it's just a piece of cake for Australia. But the recent Ashes in England is the proof that both the teams take pride in participating, and play with their hearts on sleeve. And after both the teams did so, eventually it was Australia who won the first test . In a match where England were ruling for maximum amount of time, what exactly went wrong for them ?

There are lot of reasons for it. But the primary reason is the early declaration. While one might argue that brave declarations make test cricket interesting, it might be a matter of question of which test declaration should be termed as brave. A declaration, when remaining time is less and ,the decision which has a possibility of win, with a higher risk of loss for the team declaring it, can be termed as brave.

Rest of the decisions could be termed as foolish. And in this case, when the momentum of the game was in England's favour, with Joe Root still in there on the very first day of the match, the declaration meant no sense. The approach of English team to get a Aussie wicket before day end is appreciable, but knowing Australia's sky high confidence coming after winning WTC final, it was a very less possibility. And declaring at a point where the team is on 393 on the very first day, is foolish. Bazball worked for English team , however their over confidence worked for the Aussies. As had they not been over confident while declaring, a possible 30-40 odd more runs could've changed the course of the game.

Apart from the declaration, little sloppy fielding from England and lack of trust in their most experienced bowler cost them the game. Obviously credit has to be given to the Aussies and specially their skipper who lead from the front in the 2nd innings, with both bat and ball. But some poor tactics from England aided the Australian victory. But all in all, both the teams were in the game with intent.

The dismissal of Smith and Marnus in both the innings showed that English were well prepared with their homework. They were spot on with their bazball approach, and it will continue to be good for them . This defeat is not Bazball's defeat, it's just the defeat of an over confident English decision, which heavily cost them the game. If they manage to get rid of their stubbornness, they have a fair chance to go ahead and get the Ashes their way.