England’s ‘Bazball’ revolution in Test

Some might call it an overreach or think that people are jumping to conclusions. But from what has transpired in the past month or so in the British peninsula, there is more than enough evidence to suggest that Test cricket is at the cusp of a revolution.

An England team captained and coached by two New Zealanders is throwing caution to the wind, playing a new rag-tag version of Test cricket that has left competent Test teams like India and New Zealand without any answers.

World Test champion New Zealand were the first victim of ‘Bazball’, the name used to describe England’s new way of playing the game under coach Brendan McCullum aka Baz.

England thrashed New Zealand 3-0 at home, chasing down mammoth fourth inning scores in all three games.

But captain Ben Stokes and his men outdid themselves in Birmingham, chasing down 378 against India with three wickets in hand. This is England’s biggest ever successful chase in Tests and also the biggest ever total India has conceded in the fourth innings of a Test in a losing cause.

More importantly, this win has cemented the arrival of ‘Bazball’.

The tone of the Test was set up at the toss. England captain Ben Stokes won and chose to field first.

Choosing to bowl first in a Test match in English conditions, especially when you have swing bowling connoisseurs like James Anderson and Stuart Broad in the team is hardly revolutionary. But the reason Stokes gave behind his decision was quite different and bold.

Stokes wanted to bowl first not to avail the opening day’s moisture but to bat in the fourth innings and chase down whatever total India manages to set.

The days of India possessing a meek pace attack are long gone. The pace attack led by Jasprit Bumrah is one of the best in the world.

However, Stokes wasn’t worried about the Indian pacers and not even their willy left-spinner Ravindra Jadeja who could be a handful on a Day 4-5 pitch that has gone through inevitable wear and tear.

The memories of thrashing the Kiwi pacers were still fresh and Stokes backed his men to do it one more time against India.

However, after both sides had finished one innings each, it seemed that Stokes made the same mistake as Icarus, he was blinded by his ambition and flew too close to the sun.

India had earned a 132-run first innings lead and were the front-runners in the game.

England received a dose of their own medicine in India’s first innings when wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant smashed a rollicking century, which was complemented by a hundred from Ravindra Jadeja.

Even tail-ender Bumrah, who captained the side in this Test in the absence of Covid positive Rohit Sharma, joined in on the party by taking Broad for 35 runs in a single over, the most in an over in Test history.

The Indian bowlers then took up the onus of tormenting the English batters, reducing the hosts to 83-5. Momentum was firmly on India’s side.

Even Jonny Bairstow, who is in the form of his life, looked off-colour and more concerned to just hang onto his wicket.

India, more precisely former captain Virat Kohli, then made a mistake. In the 32nd over of the innings, he went up to Bairstow and tried to rile him up. Kohli told a frustrated Bairstow who was struggling to middle the ball, to shut up and just bat.

Bairstow did exactly that. He made 93 runs off the next 79 deliveries he faced, taking his score to 106. Bairstow’s innings didn’t allow India to take a huge lead and bat England out of the match. Bairstow’s innings gave England a small glimmer of hope and that’s all they required in the end.

India didn’t score too many in the second innings, but their 245 was enough to take the target to 378, a daunting figure for any team.

In a situation like this, conventional wisdom in Test cricket would suggest the team batting fourth to forget about winning and just play for the draw. Try to not lose any wickets for the rest of the fourth day and maybe push for a victory on the final day if you have wickets in hand.

But the England Test team haven’t exactly been playing conventional Test cricket since the man from … came on board as their coach.

Former Kiwi cricketer Henry Nicholls said that captain McCullum made everyone in the New Zealand team feel they were, “ten-foot-tall and bulletproof.” In just his second series as coach, he is seemingly having the same effect on the English players.

English openers Alex Lees and Zack Crawley are two talented batters guilty of getting frazzled against quality attacks. But in the second innings, they showed no lack of confidence as they not only withstood the Indian quicks, they dominated them.

The opening partnership fetched England 107 runs and more surprisingly, those runs were scored in just 21.3 overs, at a run rate a shade below five.

England then lost three wickets in quick succession, including both openers. But those wickets ended up being a small blip in England’s chase.

Bairstow kept using his bat like a hammer to punish the bowlers while the Root continued using his willow like a paintbrush, using the Birmingham ground as a canvas to draw his masterpiece.

England needed 119 runs on Day 5, with seven wickets in hand. India still had hopes of staging a turnaround on the fifth day. But their hopes were crushed by Root and Bairstow, who kept the scoring rate near five-run-per-over and got England over the line inside the morning session.

After such a remarkable win, the England team is receiving well-deserved praise from all corners and the word ‘Bazball’ is now on everyone’s lips.

But what exactly is ‘Bazball’? Captain Stokes's answer to Sky Sports about what he thought about India’s target captures the essence of ‘Bazball’.

“I almost wanted them to get 450 to see what we could do.”

Pushing the limits of what is achievable and entertaining the crowds along the way, that’s what ‘Bazball’ is all about!