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[PICTURES] Will BazBall thrive in India?

Here is another example of the Bazball cult and how it became insufferable.

When England beat India in Chennai by 227 runs in the first Test of the 2021 series, they were praised with gritted teeth and there were a lot of disclaimers about how India was going to roar back to win the next three Tests.

However, when they won by 28 runs in Hyderabad in the first Test this time around, they were showered with praise.

The narrative was all about the brilliant leadership of Stokes and how Bazball proved itself in India etc. etc., even though their 2021 win was far more impressive and dominant than their flukey 28 run victory this time around where India dominated 80% of the match.

In 2021, England took control of the match from day 1 and India could never get back into that game. It was one of the greatest English victories in the subcontinent and it came against a stronger Indian side than the one Bazball had to compete with.
 
If one ask me there is no such thing as bazball, if there ever was one then it was Australian Test side of 2000s with Adam Gilchrist at no 6 batting with a over 200 strike rate.
 
The main point of the England tour of India is that the middle order has been lacking. Possessing a wide range of shots is beneficial, but a solid defense is the foundation of red-ball batting. Bazball is not going to work here.
 
Amjid Javed said:
Bazball looking like a team of sunday league Village 3rd X1 sloggers right now
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Bazball died its natural death in India. Red-ball format demands solid technique. T20-like hacks will not work here.
 
The funny part is some of the matches were played on flat pitches. Yet they couldn't dictate terms against India
 
Nothing to win for England from here on really.

Two soft easy series at home in the summer where they can plunder hapless SL and WI and then head over to Pakistan and repeat what they did in 2022. Only for everything to stay the same cometh the Ashes down under.
 
Mesozoic said:
Two soft easy series at home in the summer where they can plunder hapless SL and WI
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Everyone gets these at some point. If one does not count a couple of one-off exhibition matches against Ireland, to be honest England haven’t had a soft home Test series in a good while — probably since 2020, and even that was behind closed doors — hence why the cycle has come back around and two gimmes are arriving at once.
 
3-0 win vs Pakistan may have been responsible for the belief that bazball can atleast draw the series in India. The Hyderabad win further solidified that belief.

The golf tour to Abu Dhabi simply showed how confident they were.

But

Bumrah Ashwin Jadeja and Kuldeep avg less than 25 in tests. They wouldn't be standing and giggling while bazball smashed them.

Only twice in this series England batted past 90 overs. Most of the time they finished even before 80 overs. In Pakistan they were able to score at 5 or 6 or even 7 runs an over in a innings.

That didn't happen over here.

Mark wood Ollie Robinson were good in Pakistan, here they got smashed.

Overall things in India were far more difficult than England imagined.
 
India are practically invincible in India so them winning this series was never in question. But what was disappointing to see was the margin and how England largely abandoned Bazball as the series progressed forward. Besides Bairstow, Crawley and maybe Duckett, the rest of the players weren't approaching cricket the same way. I understand India hammered them and destroyed their confidence but I thought the whole point of this philosophy was being fearless and not second guessing yourself.
 

Nasser Hussain explains why Bazball and pitches cannot be blamed as he hails a depleted India side for securing a 17th successive series win on home turf. He said this during a program on a local sports channel:​


"The final Test was like the old-school England in India in the last decade or so - it was a very one-sided affair."

"They were 100-1 on the first morning having won the toss, so to lose so comfortably inside three days was a capitulation - but they had their chances in the series.In the third Test, England were in a position to try and get close to India but didn't and once you give them a lead then you are chasing the game. They had their chances in the fourth Test as well.I know they came back to win the first Test in Hyderabad due to the brilliance of Ollie Pope with the bat and Tom Hartley with the ball but there are only rare occurrences in India where you can turn it around."

"It can happen in India but the pitches in this series have been brilliant so England can have no complaints about that. Plus, they won three tosses out of five.They will look at those collapses and say, 'what could we have done differently in those positions to make sure it doesn't happen again?' because it did happen again."

"The batting collapses will be the main issue from this tour. There have been so many occasions where they have got off to decent starts and the middle order has then collapsed.There is too much said and written about Bazball. We get lost in that term and the team do not like it.It is about individual performances in those conditions."

"The reason James Anderson, who took his 700th wicket in the Test, and Ravichandran Ashwin, who took nine wickets in his 100th Test, have ended up greats of the game is because they are constantly trying to improve. After a poor Ashes series, Jimmy wanted to increase his run-up speed going into the crease, feeling he needed a bit more zip at the age of 41."

"Ashwin is learning all the time, about seam positions and how to deliver the ball. You also look at Version Two of India spinner Kuldeep Yadav. That is so much better than Version One because he has tried to improve."

"Try to learn why you collapsed. Why does Zak Crawley keep getting starts and then getting out? Does Ben Duckett need to charge the bowler when the ball is so new and spinning? Ollie Pope - a brilliant 196, then nothing else.Look at your own game and improve. That is how you get better as players and better as a team.You have to say many congratulations to India after losing the first Test match and coming back to win 4-1, which they thoroughly deserved to.They did it without Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami, with Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul injured for either part of or most of the series, Ashwin missing a day for personal reasons, no Rishabh Pant.They have played some fantastic cricket and they have got some fantastic cricketers. They have now won 17 home series in a row and are formidable."

"As for Anderson's achievement of 700 Test wickets, that is phenomenal. He has played 187 Test matches as well.There will be fast bowlers in club cricket, professional cricket that will be looking at Anderson in unbelievable admiration.If you have ever seen a fast bowler take his boots off in the corner of a dressing room and seen blood seeping through their socks, you will realise what a fast bowler goes through in international cricket.Fitness, skill, longevity. The skill of Jimmy Anderson is unbelievable and the great Shane Warne, with 708 Test wickets, will be the next man in his sights."
 
My biggest issue with the Bazball is their slow rate which has docked 21 points from their WTC points tally. Stokes' W-L ratio is much better than his predecessors Root and Cook. They are currently the #3 test team which means they are just doing fine in terms of results. In this series, they were competitive in 3 tests. Though, Stokes individual performance deserves some criticism.
 
They need to be flexible with Bazball. That's about it.

If they try Bazball everywhere regardless of condition and situation, it is bound to fail.

There are times when traditional cricket is necessary.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
India are practically invincible in India so them winning this series was never in question. But what was disappointing to see was the margin and how England largely abandoned Bazball as the series progressed forward. Besides Bairstow, Crawley and maybe Duckett, the rest of the players weren't approaching cricket the same way. I understand India hammered them and destroyed their confidence but I thought the whole point of this philosophy was being fearless and not second guessing yourself.
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Even in T20 there are times you have to respect situations. In Tests with 450 overs playing recklessly hoping you would connect everything in the path is foolish. These guys are not Viv Richards, Virendar Sehwags, Gilchrists. Most of them average in their 30s. They failed against SA also in helpful conditions. They clicked only on flat roads.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
Even in T20 there are times you have to respect situations. In Tests with 450 overs playing recklessly hoping you would connect everything in the path is foolish. These guys are not Viv Richards, Virendar Sehwags, Gilchrists. Most of them average in their 30s. They failed against SA also in helpful conditions. They clicked only on flat roads.
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This is true. Bazball can mostly be done by likes of Butler, Bairstow, Stokes, Morgan (who is now retired), Hales etc.

Some of these new guys probably can't do Bazball consistently even if they try.
 
James said:
Everyone gets these at some point. If one does not count a couple of one-off exhibition matches against Ireland, to be honest England haven’t had a soft home Test series in a good while — probably since 2020, and even that was behind closed doors — hence why the cycle has come back around and two gimmes are arriving at once.
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England will probably pick same squad, out of forms players will get cheap runs and wickets, but then go missing when going gets tough. The likes of Bairstow and Anderson need to be moved on. But Anderson is probably looking at trying to get another 9 test wickets. England need to test bench strength in these 2 series instead.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
I understand India hammered them and destroyed their confidence but I thought the whole point of this philosophy was being fearless and not second guessing yourself.
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I think that’s what Baz was talking about after the 3rd(?) Test when he said that the team was trying to find “clarity” whilst the “outside noise” was growing. It’s on him as a coach to move England on from this experience quickly but also ensure they have learned from it.
 
James said:
I think that’s what Baz was talking about after the 3rd(?) Test when he said that the team was trying to find “clarity” whilst the “outside noise” was growing. It’s on him as a coach to move England on from this experience quickly but also ensure they have learned from it.
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If they learnt anything from world cup, hitting blindly is not going to work. It is a format which is designed for smashing the bowlers. Even there England was challenged by teams like Afghanistan. So they should have been wary of facing a much experienced, superior spin attack in India.
 
The one person whose comments after the series made most sense was Nass Hussain.

End of day it doesn't matter whether your looking to play attrition cricket or bazball, either way the output is ultimately dicated by player output

When uve got players like Bairstow smacking a quick 30 and Stokes not turning up with bat, the end issue was lack of runs, it's as simple as that.

When you put big runs on board bazball looks great as you give more time for a result. But when you don't score runs, regardless of at what pace you are going to lose.
 
If you look at the great Aussie team in late 90s, early 2000s they played quick aggressive cricket for that era. But came unstuck in India, why because the conditions are conducive to being over aggressive, on top of that indias spinners don't bowl that many bad balls an over.

Even the Aussies had to change the way they played in India. England should be kick themselves for not being smart enough to realize that.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
If they learnt anything from world cup, hitting blindly is not going to work. It is a format which is designed for smashing the bowlers. Even there England was challenged by teams like Afghanistan. So they should have been wary of facing a much experienced, superior spin attack in India.
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If you think hitting bowlers blindly is what Bazball is all about you haven't been paying much attention. Yes, England failed miserably in this series but let's not forget about the results they have achieved in the last two years by playing that brand of cricket. The type of cricket they played in the first test to script one of their great test victories.

As far as the World Cup is concerned, England were barely playing cricket let alone Bazball. South Africa who were playing a similar brand of cricket to what England were expected to play reached the semi-finals.

The point is this: Bazball or that style of cricket does not work for every team. Teams like Australia and India have been very successful playing a style of cricket that suits their strengths. But it does work for teams who have players that can play that attacking brand of cricket.

Rather than bringing up the same tired arguments: "hitting blindly is not going to work", which are truisms and something they aren't doing to begin with, we should be happy that they are trying to go out there and do something different...which also happens to be highly exciting to watch when it comes off.
 
cricketjoshila said:
The OTT praise for Stokes captaincy is unbelievable.

What has he done?
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Agree. The OTT praise of Stokes has been nauseating to say the least. I just hate their pontification and how they are doing everything for the greater good of the test cricket. I hope Stokes gets humiliated at home summer too.
 
James said:
I think that’s what Baz was talking about after the 3rd(?) Test when he said that the team was trying to find “clarity” whilst the “outside noise” was growing. It’s on him as a coach to move England on from this experience quickly but also ensure they have learned from it.
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Is it possible that the present English players don't have a very good defensive game, except Root.

So Bazball not only puts the opposition off, it let's the English players play an aggressive game where their defence isn't challenged.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
If you think hitting bowlers blindly is what Bazball is all about you haven't been paying much attention. Yes, England failed miserably in this series but let's not forget about the results they have achieved in the last two years by playing that brand of cricket. The type of cricket they played in the first test to script one of their great test victories.

As far as the World Cup is concerned, England were barely playing cricket let alone Bazball. South Africa who were playing a similar brand of cricket to what England were expected to play reached the semi-finals.

The point is this: Bazball or that style of cricket does not work for every team. Teams like Australia and India have been very successful playing a style of cricket that suits their strengths. But it does work for teams who have players that can play that attacking brand of cricket.

Rather than bringing up the same tired arguments: "hitting blindly is not going to work", which are truisms and something they aren't doing to begin with, we should be happy that they are trying to go out there and do something different...which also happens to be highly exciting to watch when it comes off.
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It is hitting blindly because defense never worked. Even in the last series they treid sweeping and they were getting top edged. Tell me what are the other shots Duckett have other than sweeping against spinners? When spinners alter their speed they can cause mistiming. When they over spin they can cause top edge. That is hitting blindly. I don't say they gifted the wickets. I say they do not have any other game to fall back on. SO they resorted to this. It didn't work against better bowlers in slightly only slightly challenging conditions.
 
Bazball is history now. India smoked it out of the universe now. England need to find another approach because Bazball is dead.
 
cricketjoshila said:
Is it possible that the present English players don't have a very good defensive game, except Root.

So Bazball not only puts the opposition off, it let's the English players play an aggressive game where their defence isn't challenged.
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Bazball is Baz MaC doing everything he can to work with limited talent of English batters.

No English batter apart from Root is test standard. They HAVE to become almost delusional in self belief to achieve whatever little success can.
 
JattMaula said:
Bazball is Baz MaC doing everything he can to work with limited talent of English batters.

No English batter apart from Root is test standard. They HAVE to become almost delusional in self belief to achieve whatever little success can.
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That is correct. Credit to that think tank for making them punch above their weight. That won't make them world class players. They are still the same rubbish batsmen with different mindset. Root is an exception.
 
What we have learned is that the returns from this approach are non existent when you are up against a, fundamentally, better side, man for man.

Against a weaker side with a weaker bowling attack like Pakistan , the higher risk paid rich dividends because the bowling has no threat and could not generate false shots to punish this approach

So, instead of a narrow win on docile pitches, England managed a 3-0 whitewash.


They should continue to Bazball against weaker opponents with weak bowling.
 
Had England not choked at Ranchi, this series would've ended 3-2 India, which wouldn't have been a bad result for Eng at all. England under bazball has developed a habit of throwing away matches. Eng had genuine chances of winning the 2nd,3rd,4th tests but threw away their opportunities. In hindsight Eng should've replaced bairstow with all rounder Liam Dawson after the 3rd test , although he should have been played every test instead of rehan, another selection error was picking one seamer in the most seamer friendly test at vizag.

Jaiswal, Bumrah, Jurel, Kuldeep pulled off some brilliant performances to win the series for India. Dropping Pujara, Bharat, Axar has made India much stronger. India's future is looking pretty bright, they just need one more young promising seamer to take over from Shami.

Now time for the bazballers to statpad vs the Windies and Sri Lanka
 
sindhiboy said:
Had England not choked at Ranchi, this series would've ended 3-2 India, which wouldn't have been a bad result for Eng at all. England under bazball has developed a habit of throwing away matches. Eng had genuine chances of winning the 2nd,3rd,4th tests but threw away their opportunities. In hindsight Eng should've replaced bairstow with all rounder Liam Dawson after the 3rd test , although he should have been played every test instead of rehan, another selection error was picking one seamer in the most seamer friendly test at vizag.

Jaiswal, Bumrah, Jurel, Kuldeep pulled off some brilliant performances to win the series for India. Dropping Pujara, Bharat, Axar has made India much stronger. India's future is looking pretty bright, they just need one more young promising seamer to take over from Shami.

Now time for the bazballers to statpad vs the Windies and Sri Lanka
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Or if an earlier one of Pope's 85 false shots had resulted in a wicket in Hyderabad, England would be 0-5.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
What we have learned is that the returns from this approach are non existent when you are up against a, fundamentally, better side, man for man.

Against a weaker side with a weaker bowling attack like Pakistan , the higher risk paid rich dividends because the bowling has no threat and could not generate false shots to punish this approach

So, instead of a narrow win on docile pitches, England managed a 3-0 whitewash.


They should continue to Bazball against weaker opponents with weak bowling.
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Bazball certainly did work in a 375 run chase at 5.5 rpo in 'England'
Against the best pace bowling attack the world has ever seen.
England struggled against quality spin this is the crux
 
Ahmed216 said:
Bazball certainly did work in a 375 run chase at 5.5 rpo in 'England'
Against the best pace bowling attack the world has ever seen.
England struggled against quality spin this is the crux
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An attack of Jimmy, Broad , Stokes, Potts, Leach in English conditions is superior.

Shardul and Siraj were crap.
 
ECB needs to take the following measures before the home summer:

Stokes and McCullum should be sacked. Get a proper Test coach who was either a successful Test cricketer (which McCullum wasn’t) or a successful Test coach.

Reinstate Root as Test captain and if he is not up for it, give the reigns to Pope. Pope is England’s second best batsman and a proper Test player and has the right age profile as well.

Drop Stokes for good. He is done and dusted as a player and offers absolutely nothing. Replace him with Sam Curran who cannot contribute less than what Stokes is contributing these days or will contribute moving forward.

Drop Foakes for good and replace him with a WK who can bat. He is a tidy WK but you cannot carry a 29 averaging WK batsman in today’s era. He is essentially India’s WP Saha.

Drop Bairstow for good. The most pathetic cricketer to ever get to 100 Test caps.

Make it clear to Anderson that his selfish record padding cannot continue. Give him the English summer to get past Warne and that is it.

He has become obsessed with personal records and it appears that he wants the following ticked off too: most Tests played (he is 13 behind Tendulkar) and most Test wickets (he is 100 behind the infamous chucker).

These thoughts shouldn’t be entertained. He needs to hang his boots after the summer.

Unfortunately, none of the above is likely to happen because ECB and the fans are going to wallop in their own delusions.

They are likely to whitewash both Sri Lanka and West Indies, score at 5 an over and Stokes will have 35 men in slips to show his tactical innovation and out of the box thinking and we will have articles in the Daily Mail and Telegraph waxing lyrical about his great leadership and how Bazball 2.0 is ready to take the world by storm.
 
Mamoon said:
ECB needs to take the following measures before the home summer:

Stokes and McCullum should be sacked. Get a proper Test coach who was either a successful Test cricketer (which McCullum wasn’t) or a successful Test coach.

Reinstate Root as Test captain and if he is not up for it, give the reigns to Pope. Pope is England’s second best batsman and a proper Test player and has the right age profile as well.

Drop Stokes for good. He is done and dusted as a player and offers absolutely nothing. Replace him with Sam Curran who cannot contribute less than what Stokes is contributing these days or will contribute moving forward.

Drop Foakes for good and replace him with a WK who can bat. He is a tidy WK but you cannot carry a 29 averaging WK batsman in today’s era. He is essentially India’s WP Saha.

Drop Bairstow for good. The most pathetic cricketer to ever get to 100 Test caps.

Make it clear to Anderson that his selfish record padding cannot continue. Give him the English summer to get past Warne and that is it.

He has become obsessed with personal records and it appears that he wants the following ticked off too: most Tests played (he is 13 behind Tendulkar) and most Test wickets (he is 100 behind the infamous chucker).

These thoughts shouldn’t be entertained. He needs to hang his boots after the summer.

Unfortunately, none of the above is likely to happen because ECB and the fans are going to wallop in their own delusions.

They are likely to whitewash both Sri Lanka and West Indies, score at 5 an over and Stokes will have 35 men in slips to show his tactical innovation and out of the box thinking and we will have articles in the Daily Mail and Telegraph waxing lyrical about his great leadership and how Bazball 2.0 is ready to take the world by storm.
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Ollie Pope is not the 2nd best batter in this side. Averaging 34.68 since June 2022 (excluding Ireland) .

It's as bad as giving Shan Masood the Test captaincy.

Brook and Duckett have been better batsmen . Crawley was the best batter in both the Ashes and in India as well.

Brook is 25. Should be given the captaincy. No point delaying it.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
Ollie Pope is not the 2nd best batter in this side. Averaging 34.68 since June 2022 (excluding Ireland) .

It's as bad as giving Shan Masood the Test captaincy.

Brook and Duckett have been better batsmen . Crawley was the best batter in both the Ashes and in India as well.

Brook is 25. Should be given the captaincy. No point delaying it.
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I don’t have faith in Duckett and Crawley as long-term options. They have done well in the last year or so but for me, Pope has far better Test credentials and at 26, he is entering his best years now.

Duckett and Crawley are purple patch players and between the three, I only see Pope in the team 5 years from now.

Brook is a brilliant talent and has a highest ceiling than Pope but he is only 12 Tests old and it is too early to entrust him with captaincy. His time will come in 3-4 years.
 
cricketjoshila said:
Is it possible that the present English players don't have a very good defensive game, except Root.

So Bazball not only puts the opposition off, it let's the English players play an aggressive game where their defence isn't challenged.
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Yes, 100%.

The only England players who are capable of playing a long Test innings containing a mixture of attacking shots and solid defence are Root, Harry Brook (who wasn’t available to play this time), and Ben Stokes when he isn’t in the kind of train wreck form that he is in now.

McCullum knows full well that most modern English batsmen are better served by playing aggressively because they lack a coherent defensive game, and he was the same himself, hence the positive impact he has had on the likes of Crawley and Duckett (who used to struggle even in county cricket) and Bairstow (although the YJB journey could now be coming to an end).

I think in India this England team has struggled because the conditions tend to be quite attritional and are often not conducive to Baz style batting. Add in three world class spin bowlers Ashwin, Jadeja, and Kuldeep (who has been absolutely brilliant) and the world’s number one fast bowler Bumrah and England just didn’t have the quality to cope in the end.

Albeit some of the English bowlers emerge from the series in credit for admirably sticking to their task and picking up a decent haul of wickets.
 
Mamoon said:
I don’t have faith in Duckett and Crawley as long-term options. They have done well in the last year or so but for me, Pope has far better Test credentials and at 26, he is entering his best years now.

Duckett and Crawley are purple patch players and between the three, I only see Pope in the team 5 years from now.

Brook is a brilliant talent and has a highest ceiling than Pope but he is only 12 Tests old and it is too early to entrust him with captaincy. His time will come in 3-4 years.
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Graeme Smith became Test captain at age 22 and in his 9th Test!

If that's a concern , Root should become interim captain for the next couple of years and then Brook will be ready at age 27 to take over the reins long term .

Ollie Pope needs to establish himself first.
 
Honestly all three of Duckett and Bairstow should be binned. Duckett struggles vs the moving ball and is only scoring on flat pitches. Even then, he looks like throwing away his wicket anytime, this puts pressure on the rest of the batting order. Even his 150 had a very scratchy and lucky start.
The Duckett and Crawley opening partnership has been successful mainly because Crawley has been England's most consistent batter. Crawley plays the new ball really well and attacks the right balls to score his runs.
Pope is an average batter and looks like his 194 was an absolute fluke.

Jennings was the leading run scorer in the Eng lions tour of India vs India A, which finished the same time as the first test of this series. Jennings has also avged above 50 in the last 2 county seasons. Both him and Josh Bohannon should come in for Duckett and Pope with Brook for Bairstow
Obviously England won't drop any of the batters, their places will only be in jeopardy after England lose the next Ashes as that seems to be the only series England take seriously.

Stokes is a bad player of spin and has always struggled in the subcontinent. But he is more than capable of playing several match winning knocks in SENA.

I completely agree about Jimmy just playing for the records, he is taking up the spot of other young faster seamers. Mathew Potts took 20 wickets in 3 matches averaging 17 in the Eng Lions tour vs India A. Its kind of baffling how he didn't even make the squad for this series, should have been playing the 4th and 5th test instead of Jimmy.
 
James said:
Yes, 100%.

The only England players who are capable of playing a long Test innings containing a mixture of attacking shots and solid defence are Root, Harry Brook (who wasn’t available to play this time), and Ben Stokes when he isn’t in the kind of train wreck form that he is in now.

McCullum knows full well that most modern English batsmen are better served by playing aggressively because they lack a coherent defensive game, and he was the same himself, hence the positive impact he has had on the likes of Crawley and Duckett (who used to struggle even in county cricket) and Bairstow (although the YJB journey could now be coming to an end).

I think in India this England team has struggled because the conditions tend to be quite attritional and are often not conducive to Baz style batting. Add in three world class spin bowlers Ashwin, Jadeja, and Kuldeep (who has been absolutely brilliant) and the world’s number one fast bowler Bumrah and England just didn’t have the quality to cope in the end.

Albeit some of the English bowlers emerge from the series in credit for admirably sticking to their task and picking up a decent haul of wickets.
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I still have my doubts about Brook. His India series and Ashes in Australia would have settled that debate. Unfortunately he missed India series.

His avg in Ashes was 40.xx

So his defensive game isn't proven yet.

I am surprised that the county system hasn't produced players with better defensive game.

Also i am not sure why Matt Parkinson hasn't got more exposure.
 
I don’t think Root will want to be the captain again. If it came down to it and he was being leaned on by the ECB, he is a team and country first man so he would probably do it, but with considerable reluctance. He wore the same haunted look as many England captains in the end — it’s a very tough and high pressure position with a time expiry on it. For all parties sake I don’t think we should go back there.
 
"But it took Anderson eight Tests to take the final 15 wickets in his ascent to 700. Half of those were played in India, but as a comparison, Broad took 38 in his final eight Tests, Woakes took 19 in three Ashes matches and Tongue has 10 from two caps." - BBC

And only subcontinent players play for milestones apparently.. McCullum and Stokes should have walked the talk and played a potent seamer instead of Jimmy. Instead they carried Jimmy for the last 8 matches and masked his shortcomings with bowling average facade..
 
WengerOut said:
"But it took Anderson eight Tests to take the final 15 wickets in his ascent to 700. Half of those were played in India, but as a comparison, Broad took 38 in his final eight Tests, Woakes took 19 in three Ashes matches and Tongue has 10 from two caps." - BBC

And only subcontinent players play for milestones apparently.. McCullum and Stokes should have walked the talk and played a potent seamer instead of Jimmy. Instead they carried Jimmy for the last 8 matches and masked his shortcomings with bowling average facade..
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To be fair, number of wickets taken by pacers in subcontinent will always be lesser than in England or anywhere in SENA.

Anderson still came out as a better pacer than Wood and Robinson in the series so it's doesn't really make sense to go that far and ask for a decision.
 
Ab Fan said:
To be fair, number of wickets taken by pacers in subcontinent will always be lesser than in England or anywhere in SENA.

Anderson still came out as a better pacer than Wood and Robinson in the series so it's doesn't really make sense to go that far and ask for a decision.
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There were bowlers, Potts and Atkinson performing better in their simultaneous A tour. Wood is never a good test bowler, but still he had the best spell among Eng fast bowlers. It is clear that this tour was "Anderson 700" custom designed one.
 
WengerOut said:
There were bowlers, Potts and Atkinson performing better in their simultaneous A tour. Wood is never a good test bowler, but still he had the best spell among Eng fast bowlers. It is clear that this tour was "Anderson 700" custom designed one.
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Wood averages 77 this series and Anderson 37.
 
Ab Fan said:
To be fair, number of wickets taken by pacers in subcontinent will always be lesser than in England or anywhere in SENA.

.
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What are first 4 matches of 8 matches set .I believe them in ashes/eng. So he is not impacting anything
 
Ab Fan said:
Wood averages 77 this series and Anderson 37.
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I meant a single impactful spell among those 2. Jimmy will always bowl miniscule amount of overs and any wicket will help averages. I can understand on flat pitches with no help. But here there was reverse swing. A younger bowler with bit more zip might have been helpful. Jimmy played 4 matches this series.
 

Ashwin decodes impact of England's bold Bazball approach​

After India’s 4-1 victory in the home Test series against England, India offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin shared his views on the Bazball phenomenon and reflected on his crucial spell in the second Test at Visakhapatnam.​


The series began with England taking a 28-run win in Hyderabad, a result that highlighted the merits of England’s new-age approach to Test cricket under their head coach Brendon McCullum.
However, India took control of the proceedings from there, securing victories in the remaining four Tests and raising questions over the visiting team’s strategy.

In his latest Youtube video, Ashwin spoke at length about the ‘Bazball Tour of India’, dissecting England’s approach.

"There were many times in this series when I thought, if this was against Australia instead of England, we could have seen two draws instead of results,'' Ashwin said.

“At least one, because of the flatter cricket pitches… But because of this new English approach, they put us under pressure in several Tests.

“The pressure was because - them playing three sessions could be equal to us playing five-six sessions in terms of runs scored, and so every match was bound to go for a result,” he said. “So it was always on my mind that we would have to try something different.”
The Hyderabad Test was Ashwin’s first against England since they adopted the Bazball tactics nearly two years ago.

​

“The one thing that I personally understood after the first Test is that Bazball isn’t just aggressive cricket,” he said. “It is defenseless cricket.
"They aren’t going to play a defensive shot at all. They are going to get out if they play defense. To my surprise, Joe Root also agreed to their game plan. Because if you take world cricket’s best defense rankings, Joe Root is an easy No.1 on that list against spin. He also bought into their approach.”

Source: ICC
 
"Gone Too Far": Ravichandran Ashwin Names James Anderson, Joe Root In Damning Review Of BazballRavichandran Ashwin gave a damning verdict on Bazball with special mentions for James Anderson and Joe Root following the 4-1 win in the recently-concluded five-match series.

Veteran Indian cricket team spinner Ravichandran Ashwin gave a damning verdict on Bazball with special mentions for James Anderson and Joe Root following the 4-1 win in the recently-concluded five-match series. Ashwin mentioned Anderson's claims ahead of Day 4 of the second Test match where he said that England will look to chase down the 399-run target within 60 overs. The result is quite different as the visitors were bowled out and defeated comprehensively. Ashwin expressed surprise at the over the top statement and said that although it was a show of positive mindset, the statement "went too far".

“James Anderson went into a press conference in the second Test after winning the first considerably well. Much respect to them for winning that. He told the press that even if the 4th innings target was 500 or 600, we'll finish it in 60 overs. Even though it was an example of their positive mindset, it felt like they had gone too far,” Ashwin said on hisYouTube channel.

Ashwin also believes that Bazball leans more towards being a 'defenseless cricket' and although Joe Root is a great player of spin, his game was also impacted due to the style of cricket.

“The one thing I understood after the first Test is that Bazball isn't just aggressive cricket. It is defenseless cricket. They aren't going to play a defensive shot at all. They are going to get out if they play defense. To my surprise, Joe Root also agreed to their game plan. Because if you take world cricket's vest defense rankings, Root is an easy number 1 on that list against spin. He also bought into their approach,” he said.

On the second day of the Rajkot Test match, Ashwin dismissed England's Zak Crawley to pocket his 500th Test scalp. Before him, only Anil Kumble reached the milestone among Indians. He became the ninth bowler worldwide to take 500 wickets. However, hours after the feat, Ashwin went through a traumatic experience for which he had to leave the squad on an immediate basis. "Ravichandran Ashwin has withdrawn from the Test squad, effective immediately due to a family medical emergency. In these challenging times, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the team fully supports Ashwin," said BCCI in its release. Reports said Ashwin's mother Chitra had suffered a medical emergency.

Now, Ashwin has revealed how exactly thing transpired. "We went to the dressing room for another debrief and then back to our rooms. Rohit, me, and others were just discussing some things about the match here and there.

"That is when I realized I was not getting calls from my parents or wife. I thought they were busy attending calls and giving interviews. I called my wife around 7 PM, asking why my parents weren't answering my call. Her voice was a bit shaky. She asked me to come separately from the crowd and told me that my mother collapsed after a headache," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.


"I blanked out. I did not know how to react or what questions to ask. I was crying but wanted to ensure nobody was watching me cry. It is unnecessary to think of it that way, but it was instinctive. I could not think. I was crying in my room for some time.

"Then, the team physio checked on me as I was not picking up calls. Rahul Bhai and Rohit Bhai also came to check on me, and all I could tell them was that I could not think clearly," he added.

Source: NDTV
 
The Bald Eagle said:

Ashwin decodes impact of England's bold Bazball approach​

After India’s 4-1 victory in the home Test series against England, India offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin shared his views on the Bazball phenomenon and reflected on his crucial spell in the second Test at Visakhapatnam.​


The series began with England taking a 28-run win in Hyderabad, a result that highlighted the merits of England’s new-age approach to Test cricket under their head coach Brendon McCullum.
However, India took control of the proceedings from there, securing victories in the remaining four Tests and raising questions over the visiting team’s strategy.

In his latest Youtube video, Ashwin spoke at length about the ‘Bazball Tour of India’, dissecting England’s approach.

"There were many times in this series when I thought, if this was against Australia instead of England, we could have seen two draws instead of results,'' Ashwin said.

“At least one, because of the flatter cricket pitches… But because of this new English approach, they put us under pressure in several Tests.

“The pressure was because - them playing three sessions could be equal to us playing five-six sessions in terms of runs scored, and so every match was bound to go for a result,” he said. “So it was always on my mind that we would have to try something different.”
The Hyderabad Test was Ashwin’s first against England since they adopted the Bazball tactics nearly two years ago.

​

“The one thing that I personally understood after the first Test is that Bazball isn’t just aggressive cricket,” he said. “It is defenseless cricket.
"They aren’t going to play a defensive shot at all. They are going to get out if they play defense. To my surprise, Joe Root also agreed to their game plan. Because if you take world cricket’s best defense rankings, Joe Root is an easy No.1 on that list against spin. He also bought into their approach.”

Source: ICC
Click to expand...
Insightful comments from Ashwin.

As we were all saying, he rates Root high and puts him as having the best defence in world cricket. Clearly, it was a bad idea for Root to play Bazzball. He had game to play defence and offence both, we saw him scoring runs later.

One drawback I have not seen media mention much , Bowling unit hardly gets rest if you bat for 50-60 overs. You may score 300 runs, but batting 100 overs gives bowlers enough rest. Scoring 300 in 60 overs is not really going to help.
 
"The one thing I understood after the first Test is that Bazball isn't just aggressive cricket. It is defenseless cricket. They aren't going to play a defensive shot at all. They are going to get out if they play defense. "

That was the main problem. You can't score big runs without having defence against good sides.
 
“The one thing that I personally understood after the first Test is that Bazball isn’t just aggressive cricket,” he said. “It is defenseless cricket.

:)) Shots fired lol
 
Buffet said:
One drawback I have not seen media mention much , Bowling unit hardly gets rest if you bat for 50-60 overs. You may score 300 runs, but batting 100 overs gives bowlers enough rest.
Click to expand...

Excellent point and observation.

Could get worse for bowlers in a longer series. Maybe part of the reason why England won the first test only when their bowlers were fresh.
 
oh no England lost away to a team that hasn't lost a home series in a million years, time to shut it down and rebuild
 
While speaking in an interview on a podcast on YouTube, RishabhPant’s thought on Bazball after England were outplayed to suffer a 1-4 series loss during their Test tour of India:

”I don’t think we are thinking about it too much. As a team, you have to find your strength and not think about the opposition too much. Yes, you have to take the knowledge of how they play but you got to focus on yourself and give your best shot instead of thinking about other teams.”

” I think every bowler. It’s so difficult to single out names because you want to play the best. But I would say the difficult part was Jimmy Anderson, I wouldn’t lie. He is a legend of the game and the way he has played is amazing.”
 

ZAK CRAWLEY SAYS ENGLAND'S AGGRESSIVE 'BAZBALL' STYLE NEEDS 'REFINEMENT' AFTER INDIA HUMBLING - 'NEED TO STAY POSITIVE'​


Zak Crawley says England’s aggressive style of play needs some “refinement” following their Test series humbling in India.
Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum’s side suffered a 4-1 defeat.

Regular batting collapses throughout the series led to questions being asked of the ultra-positive so-called ‘Bazball’ approach.

England’s second innings of the third Test was particularly alarming, with tailender Mark Wood top-scoring with 33 as they were bowled all out for just 122 runs.

Pundits including former England captains Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton have been critical of the way wickets were given away in India, while trying to play aggressive, positive shots.

TNT Sports experts Steven Finn and Alastair Cook also have concerns and have called for more consistency from the team.

Despite the fearless nature of England’s play also gaining many admirers and peaking interest in the team, Crawley agrees that changes need to be made.

"It just needs a bit of refinement. We always talk about absorbing pressure and putting pressure back on,” he said.

"The last couple of years we've done the putting back on pretty well, and we've spoken about maybe picking those moments to absorb at the right times as well.

“We can certainly refine that. That's not to say we're going to get more negative."

Crawley, who scored 407 runs during the India series, believes improvements in the team’s game management can get them back to enjoying successful results.

"We will still try to play the way we have and try to score quickly, but just pick those moments where they're on top," he said.

“We need to make sure we stay positive and don't let a tough result get in the way of what we've done really well over the last couple of years."

England return to Test action this summer with two home series.

They take on the West Indies at Lord’s, Trent Bridge and Edgbaston in July, before Sri Lanka arrive for a three-match series starting in August.

www.eurosport.com

Zak Crawley says England's aggressive 'Bazball' style needs 'refinement' after India humbling - 'Need to stay positive' - Eurosport

Zak Crawley says England’s aggressive style of play needs some 'refinement' following their Test series humbling in India.
www.eurosport.com www.eurosport.com
 
India is executing Bazball better than England ever did

Fastest 50 in 2.6 overs
Fastest 100 in 10.1 overs
Fastest 150 in 18.2 overs
Fastest 200 in 24.2 overs
Fastest 250 in 30.1 overs
 
Bazzball failed in India. Suceed in Pakistan. Have to see in srilanka. I wonder how come bazzball suceed soo much in Pakistan as it failed in neighbour country India.
 
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