Ben Stokes’s reply after England slid to a gut-wrenching loss in the Lord’s Test against Australia was that of a captain who had complete faith in his team. In the first innings of that Test, his batting unit had succumbed to a volley of bouncers, and England’s Bazball approach was roundly criticised.
“Reckless is an easy word to use, what me and Brendon (McCullum) have done is give guys complete clarity,” Stokes said at the presentation ceremony. “We don’t ask them to play a certain way, but if they play a certain way, they have the full backing of the dressing room. So the message out there is to play with clarity. I might play a bowler differently than someone else, but when we are walking out there, we have complete clarity.”
To some extent, it warranted criticism. After all, England were in a good position at 188 for 1 in pursuit of Australia’s first innings score of 416. Moreover, Nathan Lyon, Australia’s premier spinner had just suffered a serious injury and looked set to be ruled out for the entire series. England could have played some percentage cricket against those head-high bouncers, but they didn’t.
A few weeks later at Old Trafford, the hosts followed a similar approach against Australia’s short-ball tactics, but this time around came out on top. Perhaps England were more prepared to take on the bouncers. Joe Root, England’s lynchpin, had come prepared. His stance seemed to be slightly more front-on, especially while facing Mitchell Starc. One of the reasons for his stance would be to cover Starc’s over-the-wicket angle. It perhaps also helped him to go back and across in order to play the pull against the Australian pace trio.
At the other end of the spectrum, the formidable pace pair of Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins had a bit of chastening experience. The tall pace duo, known for bowling hard lengths and extracting bounce from a high release, have very rarely gone for 6-7 runs an over in Test cricket. Cummins went for 22 in a spell of four overs. And in his next spell, he ended up giving away 19 in a mere two overs. In this series, England also seem to have taken a liking to Hazlewood’s bowling, with the pacer going at more than 4.50 an over.
It is too early to sound the alarm bells, but somewhere it feels as if Hazlewood hasn’t been able to pound the surface as hard as he used to do before the Achilles’ injury. Although, in Hazlewood’s defence, he did extract some variable bounce while bowling at Ben Stokes late on day 2. The very next day, he picked four wickets, albeit in a situation where England were looking for quick runs. Whatever the reason for Hazlewood’s slightly below-par show in the series, it was clear that Australia were rattled by England ‘s pyrotechnics. The field was once again spread, as England motored along by blending big shots with singles.
The coach-captain duo of McCullum and Stokes have to take the credit for how the batting unit has approached each and every Test match. Just to illustrate the point, at Old Trafford, Zak Crawley kept walking across the stumps to the famed Australian pace troika, in order to crack shots across the line. He was also throwing the kitchen sink at deliveries just outside the off stump. Even if you consider the fact that the conditions were relatively good for batting, it needs the think-tank’s backing to play such high-risk shots.
The same can be said about Root time and again employing the reverse-scoop. Being a seasoned campaigner, under another coaching regime, he most likely would have kept the innovative shot safely in the locker while playing the longest format. Last year, Jonny Bairstow was at the forefront of England’s Bazball theory as he took the cricketing world by storm with four breezy hundreds. Unfortunately, after the English summer, he suffered a freak injury while playing golf.
When he returned to the England set-up for the Ashes, he had a quiet time behind the stumps and also with the bat. But with the England backroom staff backing him to the hilt, the wicketkeeper-bat again found his mojo with an unbeaten 81-ball 99 in the Old Trafford Test.
To have a better understanding of how the current coaching regime has changed the English mindset in Test cricket, just rewind back to the Grenada Test last year. On a grassy deck, at one point, the West Indies were in trouble at 95 for 6 in their first innings. However, even at that stage of the game, England didn’t seem to believe that they were in the ascendancy. Ultimately, the tourists hurtled to a shocking 10-wicket defeat. This was a team that was bereft of confidence, especially in the backdrop of yet another hammering Down Under. Since then, under Stokes-McCullum, England have won 12 out of 16 Tests.
Yes, England’s ultra-aggressive template has its critics. On occasions, their lack of game awareness has cost them. On other occasions, England have perhaps crossed the line when it comes to bold declarations and enforcing follow-ons. At Rawalpindi, against Pakistan, a bold declaration propelled England to a famous win on a flat deck. But on day 1 at Edgbaston, against Australia, England declaring the innings at 393 for 8 didn’t come across as a sensible decision. Even at Wellington, England enforcing the follow-on with the lead just a tick over 200 looked quite risky. After all, the track at Basin Reserve invariably gets better to bat as the match progresses.
In sharp contrast to England’s risk-taking approach, the think-tank curiously decided not to declare in the ongoing Old Trafford Test, when the lead crossed the 200-220-run mark. The weather forecast has predicted plenty of rain for the last two days. Perhaps Stokes wanted Bairstow to get to his ton? Or the think-tank believed that external factors shouldn’t be taken into consideration?
England’s turbocharged ship might also be turned upside down when they travel to India and end up playing on spin-friendly decks. But it doesn’t seem far-fetched to say that England will continue to create chaos in the opposition ranks, and Bazball is certainly here to stay.