'Stupid at times': Former captains roast England's first 'Bazball' failure as opener comes under fire

Captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum have promised to persist with England’s new attacking approach despite being handed a heavy innings defeat in the first Test against South Africa.

The new England skipper and coach have adopted an aggressive approach to the Test arena, dubbed ‘Bazball’, chasing down impressive targets to win matches against New Zealand and India in the last two months with swashbuckling batting and bowling.

But they were emphatically thumped by an innings and 12 runs at Lord’s in the first of a three-Test series, as South Africa’s bowlers ruled supreme on Friday, bowling out England for 165 and 149.

The defeat has quickly sparked qualified criticism from the UK media, not willing to completely ditch the new mindset after its successful start, but keen to add greater nuance to the tactics.

Writing in The Telegraph, former England captain Michael Vaughan said their play was ‘stupid at times’, urging Stokes and his team to not be ‘a one-trick pony’.

“You need to be adaptable – you need to recognise the times when you can be gung-ho, and the times when you need to just absorb some pressure. They didn’t do that this Test,” Vaughan wrote.

“England need to play sensibly and smart for a while. That is how England will be a really good Test team. It’s still been exciting at Lord’s, but ultimately they’ve been absolutely battered. The hardest teams to play against are those that are flexible, those that change the way they play – so you can’t plan for them, they don’t become too predictable.

“The greatest teams in any sports – Man City, the All Blacks, whoever – generally attack. But there are times when it’s not their day and not their moment. But they find a way to stay in the game and do just enough. Whereas with this England style and approach, you worry that if they have a bad hour it could cost them the game.”

Vaughan was also highly critical of England’s domestic system, saying the structure of the summer, with the team unable to play red-ball first class cricket for five weeks leading into the Test against the Proteas due to the Vitality Blast and The Hundred limited-overs competitions, left the bowling attack ‘short of a gallop’ in helpful conditions.

England’s Ben Stokes walks off after being dismissed. (Photo by Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)

“Our system and our schedule aren’t helping the team,” Vaughan wrote.

“The attack have gone into a series against the side top of the World Test Championship with no first-class cricket in five weeks. That’s not ideal at all.

“Yes, a lot of that is because of the schedule – but England could have been a bit smarter, too. James Anderson and Stuart Broad should have played for England Lions against South Africa the week before. Yes, South Africa would have seen them – but they’ve seen them plenty of times before. And it would have meant they got more miles in their legs.”

In his regular column in The Times, another former England captain Michael Atherton chose instead to praise a ‘diligent and intelligent’ performance from South Africa’s bowling.

However, he also opined that the coaching staff may need to make a tough call on young opener Zak Crawley, whose scores of 9 and 13 at Lord’s continue a wretched summer in which he has averaged just 15.4 across five Tests with a highest score of 46.

“They [England] recognise Crawley’s talent and potential and he fits the aggressive way they want to play, but at some point they risk damaging his confidence and future prospects more severely,” Atherton wrote of continuing to select the 24-year old.

“By picking the same squad for the first two Tests they have limited their options unnecessarily, and Crawley looks like he will get another chance at Old Trafford.”

While the first failure of ‘Bazball’ brought with it much glee from rival fans, former England player turned popular commentator David Lloyd was instead critical of the England XI, rather than their on-field attacking methods.

“England were totally outplayed by a highly impressive South Africa. It’s nothing to do with the attacking way England have been playing,” Lloyd wrote in the Daily Mail.

“It was a case of same old same old for England at the top of the order and you would think they need two new openers for the second Test at Old Trafford. But where are they going to get them from? The Hundred? 

“They have absolutely nowhere to go in selecting a side because there’s no first-class cricket. 

“This is a very important Test series and we’re getting spannered as much by our own scheduling as the opposition. It’s a shocking state of affairs.”

Stokes, however, said there would be no change when the second Test starts at Old Trafford next Thursday.

“Absolutely not. You know, I look at captains before me and they were always going to get criticised at times about the way that they wanted to play, and that’s just part and parcel of the job,” he said.

“We know well that when we perform to the capabilities that we’re capable of, then we can go out and put on an incredible performance, like everybody’s seen in the four games before.

“This is absolutely not a wake-up call or anything like that. It was just unfortunate we’re unable to execute in the way that we want to play this week,” said Stokes.

McCullum echoed the captain, rejecting the suggestion that the England batsmen might have been too cavalier against a strong bowling line-up.

“I don’t think so. I think they were perhaps a touch timid. We approach the game with a clear mentality about the way we want to play and we want to be the best versions of ourself. It’s not always going to work,” he said.

“As we said at the time, you’ve got to buckle up for the ride. It’s not nice at times like this but we’ll come back strong,” insisted the former New Zealand batsman.

“I think we weren’t quite able to attack when the opportunity presented itself. Then we got a couple of balls that got rid of a couple of our best players. That’s cricket. If you have a winner, you’re going to have a loser, and South Africa deserved to win.” 

(with AAP)