As far as I know, never, in the 145-year history of Test cricket, has a team embraced a strategy of doing the best they can in the first three innings of a Test match, confident in the knowledge that they will bat last and chase down whatever target they are set. Never.
Yet, that is exactly what the English cricket team have done this northern summer. Set targets of 277, 299, 296 and 378 in the fourth innings this season, the Poms succeeded in each run chase.
And they even had the hide to do it in a canter. The bastards!
The Windies had a mantra in the 70s and 80s that their fabled four-pronged pace attack could win any Test, in the fourth innings, no matter how small the total they had to defend. England are now boasting that their batsman can win any Test, in the fourth innings, no matter how large the total they have to chase.
(Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Strong batting teams – such as the Aussies in the decades each side of 2000 – adopted the sensible strategy of batting the other team out of the match in their first innings, whether batting first or not, and then turning to their bowlers to secure the win.
This English summer, the Poms have decided that even if they fall short in their first innings they will prevail by making it up in their second.
Call it Bazball. Call it nuts. Call it whatever you like. It’s a bold strategy. And I bloody love it.
Is it an immutable law of physics that teams can’t regularly score big on the last day to win a Test? Or is it just that few teams have rarely ever tried? Is the barrier physical or mental?
With success comes belief. And this English team now believes.
But will they be able to maintain their innovative strategy? Their success has hinged on Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root’s rude run of form. Will their strategy change with a form slump or two?
If they stumble in the last innings, on variable foreign pitches, will they return to the traditional strategy of batting first and batting big?
And what about opposing teams? Do we now win the toss and send the Poms in? Make them bat first against their wishes? But what if the pitch is a belter or forecast to be minefield on the last day? Do we abandon our game plan to thwart theirs?
As an Australian who grew up with an instinctive colonial hatred for Geoffrey Boycott and Mike Brearley – and a begrudging, at best, admiration for Ian Botham and Daivd Gower – it is confronting to now find myself invigorated by the enterprise and courage demonstrated by an English cricket team.
But if you can’t find it within yourself to admire their success – and they way they succeeded – over the last several months then you’re a nark.
I do find some comfort, however, it must be said, in reminding myself that it took an `English’ captain and a coach, both born in the southern hemisphere, to the turn the world of Test cricket upside down.
Peter Hunt
Roar Guru
Yep, Joshua. It may happen as soon as August when they play the South Africans. But I think what they've achieved over the last four tests is worth celebrating, particularly given how pathetic the Poms were in the last Ashes series.
Peter Hunt
Roar Guru
Ageed, Sedz. I imagine they would assess the conditions before the toss, just like any other team, and agree on a game plan. It will be interesting to see when they decide to bat last and when they don't.
Sedz
Guest
England played well but I doubt this approach works in India or SL conditions. Also I’d like to see how they’d approach in Aus or SA. They may get away in England or WI or Pak conditions but let’s see how they deal when there is some thing in the pitch.
Joshua Makepeace
Roar Rookie
Good article. You're right in that the strategy looks quite precarious and that some bad spells could make it come crashing down and bring us back to the same old England.
La grandeur d'Athéna
Roar Rookie
Entire bazzball thing has come out of the English approach in short form of the game and this is the reply? Well it is a good thing no one will be using your mirror anytime soon.
Big Jim
Guest
Why do you hate the poms? I get the rivalry between our nations has always been there but why hatred? I don't think that's the view across the pond
Homer Gain
Guest
Right. So a T20 contest between two entirely different teams explains the outcome of two recent test series? There is a one-trick pony around here, and you'll be looking at him every time you shave.
Kevo
Roar Rookie
It’s ok to admire, respect even like the Poms but not the sort of thing one talks about in public old chap. Poms and Aussies have both chosen well with their new leadership combinations, both captains are what they call inspired choices I guess. And I’d say both obvious choices. Even though Aussies essentially smashed the Poms last series, Poms were their own worst enemy and the the gap between the 2 wasn’t as great as it appeared
La grandeur d'Athéna
Roar Rookie
As much as i would like to admire them too, i can not given that they are really one trick pony on highway road. It has been proven again last night against our second string team.
@Dirk Is that right? Like when he scored the fastest Test Cricket Century of all time against the much vaunted Australian attack......yeah, went to pieces.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Yep, it might work in England, but not too often elsewhere.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Well as Steve Smith notes , he would like to see it holding up against Cummins , Starc , Hazelwood before endorsing it . To that I will add Rabada, Ngidi , Mostert , Nortje . Which we are going to see soon enough. But obviously can only apply this strategy depending on pitch conditions . No ways on earth will it pay off at say the Wanderers . The go to strategy is if bowling first restrict the batting side then post a decent first innings lead because there will not be many runs on offer batting last . So unless they dig up the pitch , stop the afternoon thunder showers and somehow eliminate the altitude that’s set to continue. Bazball or not .
Peter Hunt
Roar Guru
What's your beef with Derek Pringle? The others I get...but I found Dez pretty inoffensive... And didn't Gubby Allen refuse to bowl bodyline?
Peter Hunt
Roar Guru
Thanks DaveJ. Yeah, I wrote that part for dramatic effect. I'm not suggesting, in reality, that any team would run dead in their first innings to ensure a big total to chase in their second. England were, of course, doing their best to maximise runs in their first dig in order to minimise the chase in their second. The overall point is that the Poms are deliberately batting second so they know (in both innings) what their target is. In the four Tests they played his season, they won the toss twice and sent the opposition in both times. Against the Indians, Stokes even said something akin to "we prefer to chase". That approach stands in opposition to the time-honoured approach of batting first whilst the conditions are best.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
So there are in fact three Australian batsmen in the top ten, all of whom learnt most of their cricket growing up in Australia. Wait til your mate hears about Ted Dexter, Colin Cowdrey, Douglas Jardine, Gubby Allen, Bob Woolmer, Derek Pringle, Phil Edmonds, Kevin Pietersen, Devon Malcolm, Gladstone Small, Matt Prior, etc.
Peter Darrow
Roar Guru
Or chased by a lion!
Col in Paradise
Roar Rookie
It's great to see the run chase..but how poor has the Indian bowling been.. very poor...i think the Indian team is on the decline and we are seeing it now..
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Peter, nice article, but I didn’t understand the idea that England have embraced a strategy of “ embraced a strategy of doing the best they can in the first three innings of a Test match..” It sounds like you’re saying the opposite - that they don’t care how much they score in the first innings, they’re not even trying to score big, they can always chase a target. I don’t think it’s like that at all. They’d score bigger in the first innings if they could. It can’t be a coincidence they have done so well chasing four games in a row, full credit to McCullum for giving them confidence. But it rests hugely on things going well for Bairstow. My impression from all these games is that the pitches were better towards the second half of the game. Don’t think you could get away with this style on Australian, SA or NZ pitches let alone sun-continental ones. While Bairstow has been brilliant, the best batting I saw in the two series was Pant’s century. Also, catches still win matches - Bairstow should have been caught on 14 in the second innings, possibly all over if he had. Though not as bad as Warne dropping Pietersen at the Oval in 2005.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
The Kenyan and Ethiopian kids probably breaking it everyday running to school back then , nobody would have told them it was impossible. :stoked: just didn’t want to be late for class .
Peter Darrow
Roar Guru
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeU3MUosjzk Look familiar?