No doubt the Brendon McCullum-Ben Stokes combination is pulling its weight as the duo have came out with an approach that shouldn’t have surprised many, but they still managed to surprise us with how quickly they managed to make their impact.
The approach and the mentality has been very impressive already.
McCullum is a real mentality monster and could go on to set new trends for Test cricket and potentially go down as an icon who changed the history of the game.
Personally I was surprised when McCullum was announced. Why we would he agree to serve England in the longer version, which is a very heavy and hectic job, as he could have easily secured any limited overs cricket job, or continue with his commentary gigs, make money, go home and relax.
But now the picture has become clearer.
When he was a player and captain, he had this vision to play Test cricket in a certain style – he tried hard, succeeded to some extent but didn’t really have the resources in terms of ability in his teammates, so he couldn’t fully demonstrate his idea.
I think the current English talent has lured him and resurrected his long gone idea, he now believes he can watch his philosophy materialised through the current English resources. Next Ashes series should get very interesting with the captain-coach duo.
(Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)
Apart from this refreshing and attractive model of play, there are a lot of strange things taking place in England. The last four Test matches played on English soil have been thrillers, three against the touring Kiwis and now the ongoing Test against India.
Hard to believe but England clean swept the Black Caps and all three victories came whilst chasing in the fourth innings, eventually prompting Stokes to send India in after winning the toss in the ongoing contest.
A very brave decision, opting to potentially face Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed shami and Mohammed Siraj in the fourth innings. In my opinion a bad decision, considering the quality of attack India has.
Astonishingly, almost every innings in these four Tests has had a comeback story where batsmen slotted at 5, 6 & 7 are rescuing their teams from bad starts. These trends cannot be mere coincidences or flukes when it is happening almost every time.
Top order fails, middle order crumbles and the late middle orders are producing some epic knocks and “get out of jail” partnerships at ridiculous strike rates. Daryll Mitchell, Tom Blundell, Jonny Bairstow and Rishabh Pant have been in the thick of these comebacks so far.
Now, why is it happening every time?
My guess is it is the ball, the red Duke ball. Looks like Duke ball has this unique characteristic of troubling the batsmen while it is still new but once it loses its shine it flips its character completely and becomes so batsman-friendly. Could easily be termed an Octopus ball.
Another reason could be New Zealand and England lacking that sting in their attacks that could run through batting line-ups using sheer pace. While England may be missing Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, the Kiwis did miss the likes of Lockie Ferguson, Adam Milne and Kyle Jamieson.
In favour of this argument would be if England struggles to play as freely against the Indian trio.
What else can be the reason?
Pope Paul VII
Roar Rookie
Re 5,6,7 jobs....they are there to crush or recover.....they seem to have managed to combine the two.
JOHN ALLAN
Guest
Just saw highlights of Day 4. Confidence is a wonderful quality in both individual & team sport. Creates self belief & a tide of momentum. “Bazball” like other forms of approach to a game is hardly foolproof. When McCullum & Lynn a.k.a. The Bash Brothers were plying their trade in Brisbane, The Heat either won in a canter or were dismissed cheaply however the fare was embraced by fans even though “ see ball hit ball” was frustrating if unsuccessful. The McCullum/Stokes “partnership” has revived the game $ memories of Barnacle Bailey, Tavare, Boycott etc. have been cast aside.
Tempo
Roar Rookie
Not the first time they've done it either - this is Bumrah's fourth 20+ score against England this series, largely against short pitched bowling. His highest score against any other opponent is 14. He's scored 63% of his runs vs England (having played 10 out of his 30 tests against them), and average 11.7 against them, versus 4.5 against all other opposition. This Indian team has three genuine No.11s in its batting line-up if you just bowl normally to them.
Hutton's ghost
Roar Rookie
Totally agree - the definition of insanity is attempting the same thing again and again and expecting a different result. England have regularly tried the short ball bombardment of tailenders by 82 km/hour bowlers with embarrassing results. It was compounded here by making Broad and Anderson bowl bouncers with a new ball. Madness!
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
This looks like a brilliant wicket . Rewards both bowlers and batsmen equally . Still early days but casting my mind back to the rubbish produced by Pakistan for Aussies last tour where long periods of the match were borderline unwatchable. Kudos to the management and ground staff . It certainly made for a highly entertaining opening day .
Simoc
Guest
Trying to bounce out the tail and not learning . Bumrah with an ave of 6 got over 30 off an over from Broad just swinging wildly at every ball because nothing was going to hit the stumps.
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
What isn't strange is normal programming has resumed and the minnows are 5 for about as many scored off one Stuart Broad over. Good ol minnows. They never cease to amuse and bemuse. And their rugby team lost to the Wallabies last night. And my footy team won Friday night. And Sunday morning kids soccer was just cancelled. Could this be the greatest weekend of my life?
Sedz
Guest
I witnessed one of the finest bowling spell from Indian pace attack today. Have not seen a consistent, relentless spell of bowling from both ends for a long time and I thought Bairstow did really well. On the other side Root was very Un-Root. Not sure if that’s what England call as Bazball or attacking approach.