Amongst the spectacular victories, Bazball has always been punctuated with some very pointless and foolish defeats. Broadly speaking, the cricket-loving public has been on board despite this, and has been quick to praise the dramatic wins too. But last week at Edgbaston felt slightly different. Often, when England have lost in the last few years, it has been stupidly throwing away winning positions to suffer marginal losses – think the Wellington, Edgbaston and Lord’s tests of 2023 – but rarely at home has the margin of defeat been so wide. Certainly, they have been comfortably beaten away from home many times, but home test matches have never seen such heavy defeats.
Even in the first test at Headingley, England were second best for much of the contest, but were able to fall back on their run-chasing ability in the fourth innings, something which has got them out of trouble on many occasions during the McCullum-Stokes era. In fact, the recent Edgbaston test was the first time they have conceded 500 runs and failed to win. While this is remarkable, it is not a record that was going to hold indefinitely. Forget cricketing logic, constantly allowing yourself to be put in a losing position is completely illogical in any sport.
England got away with it in the first test due to some poor Indian catching and seam bowling, as well as Jadeja inexplicably not using the rough until late in the day when the chase was all but over. Shubman Gill and his team were not going to be so profligate in Edgbaston, and so it proved. Even without Bumrah, the Indians bowled far better, and crucially caught far better. England continued to play stupid, and poorly executed shots, and this time they were not let off the hook.
This is not the first time they have been punished in this regard. The first rule of sport is to do what your opponent wants you to do least, and on several occasions England have done the opposite. They have walked brainlessly into the most obvious traps many times, without a care in the world, or, god forbid, a thought about the state of the game. Wile E. Coyote would blush. The Ashes test at Lord’s in 2023 was the most damning example of this. On a dreary, lifeless wicket, Australia turned in desperation to a short-ball ploy to dislodge Duckett and Pope, who were cruising towards the 200-mark for the loss of just one wicket. Any sense would have told them to avoid holing out to the men on the hook, and wait for the Australian seamers to bowl themselves into the ground. But alas, England played dreadful shot after dreadful shot, squandering what should have been a comfortable position into a near-100 run deficit and an eventual defeat.
It is not only reckless batting which has defined Bazball. Unorthodox selection policy, bowling first on flat wickets and above all else, a slightly manic commitment to the style are also key facets.
Firstly, then, the selection, where spin-bowling choices have been especially intriguing. Stokes has been admirable in picking specialist spinners consistently and in bowling them often, but there is more of a question about how they are being selected. Shoaib Bashir, the incumbent, has a very poor and very limited First Class record. He was picked on the basis that someone within the England set-up saw a clip of him bowling a single delivery posted on Twitter, hardly the most bullet-proof method. He can no longer get a game in County Cricket, and has been ditched by Somerset. Against the Indian batsmen, he looks like a club bowler, and takes wickets only when their misjudged slogs and are caught in the deep. To be honest, I feel quite sorry for him. It is not his fault that he has been parachuted into test cricket years too early.
While there is certainly an overreliance on statistics, one gets the impression people are just picked on vibes. Zak Crawley’s selection has been particularly frustrating. He has, again, a dismal First Class record, and now, with a huge sample size, he still only averages around 31.11 after 56 tests. That is simply not good enough. He is a player who delivers spectacularly but rarely, and has always been a favourite of Rob Key, the England Managing Director. Again, this selection is little more than a punt.
Then there are the flat wickets, and the inevitable decisions to bowl first on them if the toss is won. Certainly, England have been good at chasing, but Edgbaston proves you can only do this so many times. Perhaps more importantly, when you are forcing your seamers to bowl for well over a day, and then, because of how quickly England bat, not giving them a real break, injuries and fatigue are inevitable. Wood and Archer have always been injury-prone, as has Josh Tongue, and Atkinson’s recent injury worries are also a concern – flat wickets will not help this, particularly given Stokes’ propensity to turn to bouncer tactics very quickly.
Above all else, what annoys me most is the cultish element at the heart of Bazball. Such an extreme approach requires a total commitment to buy into it. Not only does that have the capacity to completely implode should things turn sour, but it means England say some very stupid things to defend some very stupid positions. Rob Key’s constant insistence that he is right, and everyone else in cricket is wrong, looks more and more ridiculous with each embarrassing defeat the team suffers. Bashir coming out to save the game at Edgbaston, then proceeding to hit sixes, with the dressing room smiling and laughing, is the epitome of this, and is just one case of England singularly failing to care. The arrogance and hubris of this team can be annoying when things are going well, but when things are not, it is an insult to the people who want England to win. They are quickly becoming a deeply unlikeable team.
The problem which underpins this all is the fact that Bazball is based on a fallacy. The point of sport is to win. If sport happens to be entertaining, and people want to pay money to watch it, then great. It is still ultimately a welcome byproduct at best – no more. As long as England care more about being fun than winning, they will never be as successful as they should be. They could well go on to win this series, in fact I would not be at all surprised, but this will always be the central issue of the project.
For all the talk about how wonderful England are, the fact they do not win enough remains the bottom line. Trevor Bayliss and Joe Root’s England drew the home 2019 Ashes 2-2. McCullum and Stokes’s England did the same in 2023. Bayliss and Root’s England won more often than not at home, and lost mostly away, with a handful of exceptions. A similar narrative has emerged in the Stokes-McCullum era. And yet we’re all supposed to believe one is much better than the other.
Image credits: “Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes 3rd Ashes Test at Headingley” by Ben Sutherland is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
