When Bazball was introduced to the world in 2022, it was a cricketing phenomenon. Swashbuckling batting that made cricket more exciting than usual. With that style of play, pretty much anything was possible. However, as time as gone on, it's become largely predictable. This predictability has led to an Ashes loss and a possible whitewash.
Bazball is the nickname given to England's brand of cricket under the management of Brendon McCullum and the leadership of Ben Stokes. Anything was possible under these two. Batsmen were able to express themselves. This was initially backed by the bowling prowess of James Anderson and Stuart Broad.
This approach was mainly all about chasing. Everytime they won the toss, Stokes always chose to bowl. Test cricket was a like a T20 game.
The change in style of play produced immediate results in the summer of 2022. The England Test match side were playing a three-match series against New Zealand and a one-off Test against India to conclude a previous series postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The previous summer, India and New Zealand had competed in the 2021 ICC World Test Championship Final.
However, England in the summer of 2022 won all four matches chasing a total in the fourth innings, three against New Zealand and one against India, with those fourth innings chases being: 277; 299; 296 and 378 runs. They became the first side in Test history to chase three scores of 250-plus in back-to-back games against New Zealand and the first England side to ever win four consecutive Test matches batting last. Stokes, as captain, upon winning the toss, began routinely in the summer of 2022 choosing to chase, something which goes against the orthodoxy in Test cricket but is the orthodoxy in limited-overs cricket.
Since the inception of the style, until June 2023, England averaged a run rate of 4.65 per over. This is significantly higher than the next highest in Test match history – Australia under Steve Waugh at 3.66. This has meant the team has bucked the trend of victorious sides of Test matches usually requiring 140 or more overs to win.
On 1 December 2022, England reached a total of 506–4 at the end of first day's play in a Test match against Pakistan. These runs came in 75 overs at a run rate of 6.75, an unprecedented rate record in Test cricket. Had England faced the full 90 overs of a day's play at that run rate, they would have passed 600.
The previous record for the most runs on day one of a match was 494 set by Australia against South Africa 112 years prior in 1910. This innings also included England's highest ever total in the first session of a Test (174); Zak Crawley scoring the most runs in the first over of an innings ever by an England player (14); Crawley and Ben Duckett scoring the fastest ever England century opening stand (83 balls); Crawley and Duckett scoring the fastest opening double-century partnership in Test cricket history (181 balls); Harry Brook scoring England's third fastest century of all time (80 balls) and Crawley (86 balls) scoring the fastest ever by an England opener and the fifth fastest overall.
The desire to score quickly has been noted to have had an impact on the batting of Stokes himself who, on occasion, was "one batsman who has, perhaps, taken things too far on occasion...and fallen cheaply." England batsmen have also demonstrated innovation when facing Test match bowlers, such as Joe Root playing reverse-ramp shots against pace bowling, and batting left-handed.
On 16 February 2023, fast scoring rates by the top order allowed England to declare their innings on the first day of a day/night Test match at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on a tour of New Zealand, when the evening conditions were perceived to be a better time to be bowling rather than batting as a side
It was the second-earliest declaration in the first innings of a match in the history of Test cricket and the speed of the scoring rate by the England batsmen allowed the declaration to be made to suit the conditions with former England captain, Michael Atherton, describing the "boldness" of the declaration as evidence of Stokes' "reputation as a captain unwilling to let the game stagnate or drift".
Stokes declared in the opening innings of the 2023 Ashes series after just 78 overs of England's first innings, despite Joe Root being unbeaten on 118, in order to bowl at the Australian batsman for four overs on the first day. It was the earliest first-innings declaration in Ashes history.
It was the fifth time Stokes had declared a first innings in his previous fourteen Tests as captain. It moved him equal with former New Zealand captain, Stephen Fleming, for the most declarations in Test history before the 110th over of an innings; but Fleming had taken 80 matches to reach that mark and Stokes fifteen. Australia went on to win the test by two wickets in the dying overs of the fifth day.
A component of Bazball is said to be "confusionless cricket" and whilst "attacking all the time is the key but not attacking blindly is the mantra" with it being "a meticulous approach of never letting the game die and always seeking results."
Speaking after England chased a record run-chase in a Test in Nottingham in June 2022 against New Zealand at Trent Bridge, including a period of 102 runs in nine overs hit by Stokes and Jonny Bairstow, Stokes was quoted as saying "The message just was run into the fear of what the game was rather than stand still or back away from it...I'll say it quite simply: we were either winning this game or losing it. That was the mentality that we wanted all the batsmen coming in to have...It's obviously paid off. When you have the backing of the coach and captain, it rubs off on the players in a very positive way. So you're not fearing failure. You're just going out and doing what you want to do."
Stokes was quoted as using 'positivity' and 'aggression' which would involve risking defeat if it provides a better chance of winning. An aggressive, high-risk high-reward style was noted with England's leading all-time wicket taker, James Anderson, quoted as saying, "We've got a captain and coach that don't want draws. We're not playing for draws."
The desire to seek results to Test matches led to a Stokes declaration in Rawalpindi against Pakistan that was seen as a risk and "about 50 runs shy of what experts felt would be the ideal score to have enough cushion," only to win by 74 runs after giving Pakistan the chance to win. They played less defensively, leading to former Australian cricketer and now commentator, Mark Waugh, saying "Courageous, fearless positive mindset gets them a win in Rawalpindi on the most docile surface. I don't think any other team in world cricket would have rolled the dice like that."
Former Australian captain, Ricky Ponting, discussed the change brought about to the English Test team commenting on how McCullum had managed to "change the attitude of some of the English players to not be scared about getting out and to be fully committed to thinking about scoring runs and when you get the ball in your hand to be as aggressive as you can and set nice and aggressive fields."
The England bowling unit under Stokes' captaincy has seen him encourage fast bowlers to bowl fuller, not to protect their bowling figures over moving the game forward and to prioritise wickets over run protection at all times. This hasn't always been the convention in Test match cricket. England off-spin bowler, Jack Leach, was quoted as saying, "In teams I've played in, the way I've thought – a lot of the decisions are made around negativity...Stokes is going out the opposite way."
On the tour of Pakistan in late 2022, Stokes' use of "wacky" fielding positions and bowling changes was said to have helped his side achieve a series victory. The "aggressive field settings and constant tinkering" led McCullum to say that Stokes "is determined not just to drive this team but cricket forward. He seems to have taken captaincy to a new level...What we see on the field pulling the strings...he's constantly active, making plays and always thinking about wickets and he's so consistent with his message that he doesn't care about runs. That's one thing...his general positivity is quite staggering."
Tactics in the field included moving fielders constantly, changing bowlers to improve match-ups and utilising unconventional fielding positions including the use of leg slips, three men in front of square, and a back-stop.
The Bazball era of English Test cricket has seen the team at times eschew the traditional use of a nightwatchman, in favour of a "nighthawk." Instead of promoting a lower-order batsmen late in a day to protect the top order by blocking, the lower-order batter is asked to 'swing for the fences' to score and disorient the opponents.
During the English summer Test matches of 2022, on occasion, Stuart Broad would be padded up for the last few overs of the day in order that, if called upon, he could attempt a few late evening blows to accelerate the scoring and cheer the crowd. Broad told Sky Sports that it was in England's first innings against New Zealand on his home ground of Trent Bridge (Nottingham) in 2022 that McCullum suggested it to him, somewhat unexpectedly, "I went to make a coffee, in my flip flops, and Baz came up and said, 'you are in next, get your pads on. I think the crowd has gone a bit quiet, you are a local boy so try and hit your first ball for four and get them revved up again'."
Broad, however, was never required in the role and it was later on in the year that 18-year-old spin bowler, Rehan Ahmed, first got to be nighthawk, promoted to bat at number three in the Test match in Karachi against Pakistan on 19 December 2022. Broad would make his debut in the nighthawk role on 17 February 2023 in England's second innings in the first Test in a series of two against New Zealand. He told BBC Sport that he was lying on the physio's bed when Brendon McCullum walked through the door and said "Hawk, it's time...You're going in next."
After arriving on Australian shores with great expectations, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes were intent on imposing the attack-at-all-costs strategy on the contest for the oldest trophy in cricket.
After just one warm-up game — an internal trial against the English Lions - a second-string England line-up — it quickly backfired.
Relying on a pragmatic, conventional approach to the game and long experience of the conditions, Australia retained the Ashes on Sunday with two matches remaining.
One of the problems with Bazball is that there's apparently no depth in the batting department. As far as I've seen, it's that no matter the form a batter might be in, he'll always be selected. Bowlers will be chopped and changed but not the batters.
There have been times when a batter has been out of form as nothing has been done the following Test. Two prominent examples of this are Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope. They haven't been setting fireworks and have been giving their wicket away cheaply. I believe it's created an atmosphere of complacency.
On the same note, it's also created a sense of selfishness and greed. The batsmen are just thinking of their own game and not considering the situation. A central example of this behaviour is Harry Brook in the second Test.
Ollie Pope (64 caps) is trapped in his poor form. Brook (33) is hinting at brilliance without following through. Ben Duckett (41), one of the Bazball diehards for his evocative batting and at times ludicrous public comments, is starting to doubt.
A big factor in the ongoing Ashes series is the lack of a premier spin bowler. Up until this point, England have heavily relied on the part-time bowling of Joe Root and Will Jacks. There was much talk of Shoaib Bashir playing in the series but that hasn't sufficed.
England’s assistant coach, Jeetan Patel, said Bashir had been sacrificed to prop up a struggling batting line-up. That tactic has backfired, with Jacks making only six during England’s sub-par first innings of 286 all out and, unable to command a steady line, sitting on overnight match figures of 212-3 from 39 overs.
Patel said: "We felt we did need that extra batting cover. I still believe Bash is our no. 1 guy and I think he does a fantastic job for us. Always has. But in these conditions we are horses-for-courses kind of people."
"We look to pick the players that we think are going to affect the game the most. With all four seamers firing and Jacksy backing them up, I think that works. But it probably didn’t play as well as we’d like it today."
It's been believed that the domestic game in England isn't taken seriously. It's been ignored and players who excel in the T20 game are selected. Evidence for this comes from former Aussie head coach, Darren Lehmann, who now coaches county side, Northamptonshire. "Done, finished, gone," he said on ABC Sport.
That wasn’t all Lehmann had to say. Rather, the former Australian head coach made headlines after a stunning claim which has cast doubt on just how systemic England’s issues are after a failed tour down under.
Lehmann was asked at the end of play on Saturday what he thought was behind England’s struggles to produce spin bowling, with the issue only further cast into the spotlight after Shoaib Bashir’s omission in this year’s Ashes series, with the 22-year-old overlooked in favour of all-rounder Will Jacks.
"The problem with Division One cricket is they all play for draws, so the bonus point system makes it flat,” Lehmann told BBC’s Test Match Special. "Get your points, you stay up. You know, if you get lucky and have a good day where the ball’s overcast and (it) swings around and you knock them over, you win the game."
"Division Two is a little bit different. You’re playing for results but you’re still actually playing on flatter wickets that don’t spin as much. You’ve got [Liam] Dawson who’s quite good, we’ve seen him a bit, Leach is good at Somerset. There are a few spinners there, it’s just who you pick."
“Bashir, I watched him bowl the last two days and they said he’s low on confidence but what I see is an attacking spinner that can actually get wickets. So, sometimes you’ve just got to bite the bullet and play the guy if you think he’s the best."
The Northamptonshire coach made the stunning claim that he has “never” spoken to or seen a selector at county cricket.
Lehmann then shone a light on why the problem may go far deeper. "Now, that’s a selection issue, and the selectors – who are the selectors, by the way? Because I’ve not seen them in my time at county cricket," he said. "I’ve never spoken to a selector, I’ve never seen a selector and I’m a county coach. Unbelievable."
If there's something that's kept on coming up is preparedness. After the first Test in Perth, McCullum believed that the English had underprepared but overprepared for the second in Brisbane. Now, after the Adelaide Test, he conceded that they got it all wrong on that front. It's just plain confusing.
To me, this was an extremely naive move. One should never underestimate an opponent. Overconfidence isn't a good thing. All offers of practice matches should be taken with both hands. England scuffed all opportunities given to them.
The final nail in the coffin and the clear sign that Bazball died was the batting display in England's second innings. Among the top scorers was Will Jacks, who scored 47 off 137 balls. Additionally, England were bowled out for 352, at a run rate of 3.43. Both are a far cry from the typical Bazball gameplay.
It seems to me that, while being revolutionary, Bazball is just a fad. While it was exciting at first, it's slowly diminished its creditability. It's set in one way and there's no room for adaptability. Taking a page from WWE, a saying that the stable, Evolution, brought up in 2014 bares true. People either adapt or perish. It's quite obvious that the Poms have perished.
Should England get whitewashed, serious questions will need to be asked and answered. If this occurs, this might be the last of Rob Key as Managing Director, Brendon McCullum as coach and quite possibly, the end of Ben Stokes as the captain. Some international careers might end as a result as well. The County Championship will need to be assessed.
The English game might be turned upside down.