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 "Bazball")
Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum (Photo: England Cricket/ Twitter)
Bazball and its meeting with the Indian conditions could be seen as a ‘tryst with destiny’ moment for Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, the England captain and coach duo that invented the Bazball approach, which is coined from McCullum’s nickname ‘Baz’.
They have won at home and away, too, in Pakistan and New Zealand. They managed a comeback after being 0-2 down in an Ashes. They got the opposition team all out on 32 occasions out of a possible 33 in matches with results. Landing in India just three days ahead of the start of the game of the five-match Test series might be another Bazball strategy, but one would only know its success and failure after it is tested in the five-match series.
However, it is imperative to decode what has already been known through 18 Tests of the Bazball regime in which the English have won 13, lost four and drawn just one, but that sole draw was rain-induced and not a natural culmination of a match.
Run Rate of 4.65
Under the leadership of Ben Stokes, England has been scoring with a run rate of more than 4.6, and it is the highest ever recorded under any captain. The second best is Australia under Steve Waugh, which has a run rate 3.9. A difference of nearly 0.7 runs is huge enough to demonstrate how the Bazball approach has changed the way Test cricket is perceived.
It is only thanks to this scoring rate that England have needed more than 140 overs only once in their 13 wins.
Great Fourth Innings Chases
When it comes to chasing in the fourth innings, England have managed to chase down a target between 250 and 400 five times in seven successful attempts.
First Innings Declarations
Ben Stokes has declared five times in the first innings out of 18 Tests, the joint highest alongside New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming. While Fleming had 80 matches at his disposal, the New Zealand-born English captain has managed to do it with only 18 opportunities. This clearly shows that the team is going for the result at all times.
Draw Not an Option
Because of this approach of making things happen at every moment, a draw does not become an option in the Bazball theory of playing Test cricket. Since they are constantly attacking the game and making things happen, they have drawn only one Test out of 18. That draw was also forced onto them because of rain. Had they not drawn at Old Trafford, they might have caused a massive uproar by winning the Ashes after being 0-2 down.
Increased Strike Rate of Batters
Ben Duckett is the prime example of how improved the strike rate of batters is under Bazball. It is not just the strike rate, but also the ability to score more in a limited time that has made Bazball successful. Before the Ashes of 2023, Duckett had faced 710 deliveries and left only eight of them, which equated to about 1.1 per cent of leaves, which is ridiculously low in Test cricket, that too for an opening batter.
Overall, the strike rates of all English batters have changed drastically since Bazball. While Duckett scored runs at a rate of 95 and 86 in 2022 and 2023, Joe Root increased his strike rate from 56 in 2021 to 76 in 2023. Jonny Bairstow, another England Test batting line-up mainstay, improved his strike rate from 48 in 2021 to 77 in 2023.
Improved Bowling Performance
Though Bazball connects more with attacking batting, it is related to attacking bowling equally. The English bowlers have claimed 338 wickets out of a possible 340 that they could have taken in 34 completed innings since Bazball became The Three Lions’ Test template. They took 20 wickets in 25 consecutive innings before Australia got over the line in the opening Test of Ashes 2023 with a two-wicket win.
It is only the effect of Bazball that ever since McCullum took over the coaching role of the England team, the opposition has never managed to declare against England. Only once have they been able to chase down a fourth-innings total against the Three Lions in 18 matches.
First Published: Jan 24 2024 | 10:19 AM IST
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