England landed in Australia with genuine hopes of winning their first Ashes series “Down Under” since 2010–11 and to defeat their oldest rivals at home or away for the first time in ten years.
However, after just six days of cricket, they trail 0-2 with three games remaining, and their “Bazball” style of ultra-attacking cricket is under scrutiny after devastating eight-wicket losses in Perth and Brisbane.
When captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum joined forces in 2022, they gave an England team that had only won one of 17 Test matches new life by encouraging players to play fearlessly. However, Bazball has occasionally changed from a guiding philosophy to something that is almost a dogma, with a self-defeating rigidity.
Since June 2023, England has won 13 and lost 14 of their 29 World Test Championship (WTC) games, replacing their early success with more subdued outcomes. Last month, a furious Stokes called past players who were critical of England’s strategy “has-beens” and received a harsh reprimand.
Rob Key, the managing director of England cricket, has long maintained that sheer speed is necessary on Australian fields, which are generally hard.
“I don’t care how many wickets you take,” he said last year. “I want to know how hard you are running in, how hard you are hitting the pitch and are you able to sustain pace at 85 to 88 miles per hour?”
With 18 wickets taken thus far in the series, veteran Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc has excelled for the home team. However, conventional English-style seam bowling has also been rewarded by the surfaces in the first two Tests. Australia’s Michael Neser, who averages slightly over 80 mph, took 5-42 in the second innings at Brisbane.
After the pink-ball match in Brisbane, McCullum was made fun of for claiming that England had overtrained and were over-prepared.
Before the game in Brisbane, wicketkeeper Jamie Smith and other players had never played in a pink-ball Test, and the tourists had only played one pre-series warm-up match. England dropped five catches in the first innings as a result of their lack of match practice.
Additionally, Stokes’ team decided not to play a tour match between the second Test in Brisbane and the third Test in Adelaide the following week.
With bowlers unable to maintain a precise line and length and batsmen taking needless chances, England has been found lacking in fundamental disciplines.
Additionally, Stokes’ team has disregarded numerous cautions about the necessity to reduce risk when playing Starc and the perils of attempting to cross the larger boundaries of Australian grounds. Stokes insisted that his England team is “not a place for weak men” and urged his players to toughen up following their loss in the second Test.
However, Australia won in Brisbane despite missing three senior bowlers, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, and captain Pat Cummins, who collectively have more than 1,100 Test wickets, so it might be too late to reverse the trend.
To a degree that was previously unimaginable, England has retained some players. Despite averaging a meek 33.7 in WTC games since June 2023, opener Zak Crawley has been kept on because it was thought he would do well in Australia. This is indicative of an unhealthy fixation with the Ashes to the detriment of all else.
Fellow top-order batsman Ollie Pope averages a pitiful 31.8 over the same period and Jacob Bethell, the next in line, is yet to reach a first-class century.
