Pakistan to Pakistan. Bazball Two Years On – Will It Stand The Test Of Time?

England’s recent defeat in Pakistan signals about two and a half years since the start of the Stokes/McCullum tenure, and about 2 years since the 3-0 romping by England, last time out, in Pakistan.

These two years are intriguing, and the conclusion of the 2022 Pakistan series marked a shift in people’s perception of the Bazball ideology. The novelty of aggressive and entertaining cricket was by no means wearing off, but instead questions were raised about the sustainability of such an approach across an 18 month period that included the Ashes and an away trip to India.

People talk about the idea of the journey being more important than the destination, and the one that Stokes and McCullum and Co. have taken us on over the last 24 months has been filled with drama, disappointment, thrill, and everything in between. It’s been one of the most pivotal two-year periods in English red ball history, and it’s one I’m keen to explore.

After Pakistan “22, the next time England played a test series was February 2023, away, in New Zealand. One of the less watched contests under McCullum and Stokes, the first of two tests against The Kiwis was a microcosm of everything we had come to expect from England, under the new leadership group; including an aggressive declaration, runs from Harry Brook and Joe Root, a short cameo from Stuart Broad batting at 4 and ultimately England emerging victorious.

The series would finish 1-1 after a thrilling finish to the second test which saw New Zealand, after following on, bowl England out for 256 in the fourth innings, just 2 shy of their 258 run target.

Despite only getting a draw England’s absolute commitment to ultra-positive cricket foreshadowed what would be the most enthralling ashes series for a generation.

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Back to the present for a moment. England are coming off the back of a really disappointing series in Pakistan where, in spite of scoring 823/7 in one innings, they were beaten, comprehensively by the opposition’s spinners. This has been met by a wave of criticism from pundits, and in particular ex-players. The man who seems to be bearing the bulk of this scrutiny is Ollie Pope and from my perspective, this seems unfair and rather fickle.

When Jurgen Klopp joined Liverpool in 2015 Adam Lallana was not the best player at the club, but he was one of the first to buy into the culture that the German manager proposed, and without him, there is an argument that Liverpool don’t have such profound success so quickly.

Now it’s important to note here that I think Ollie Pope will go onto have a more prosperous career playing for England than Lallana had playing for Liverpool, but the idea rings true nonetheless.

Even beyond the cultural impact Pope has had in bringing about England’s change in fortune the most recent domestic summer saw him captain England to a series win against Sri Lanka, score 1x 100, 1x 150 and win player of the match in a test against the West Indies. One poor series, off the back of a successful summer, in conditions that even, in the case of the second and third test, the most successful struggled in doesn’t seem like cause for execution.

This isolated incident represents what I believe a wider problem to be in English cricket, and more positively why I think Bazball will stand the test of time.

In an era where so much analysis and commentary from pundits and ex-players is black and white, offering unwavering support when results are positive but calling for heads when the chips are down, England just don’t seem to care. They’ve made a big show of coming out in press conferences and saying they don’t care about the results only entertainment; I don’t think this is true. They’re professional athletes, of course they want to win, those are just outlandish statements to get the underlying point across – “no matter how much positive or negative support this gets, we’re sticking to our guns, we’re going to play this way”.

I think it’s working.

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It was by no means the biggest event of the 2023 Ashes series, but I vividly remember where I was when Zac Crawley pumped Pat Cummins through the off side to get us underway for the best series of test cricket I’ve ever watched.

I was making a sandwich, with the game open on my laptop and volume turned right up. To hear the English crowd and commentators roar, just as their Australian counterparts had two years earlier, as Mitchell Starc’s half volley had crashed into Rory Burns’ leg stump, was blissful.

I won’t dwell for too long on the intricacies of each test match as after two documentaries and a BBC Sport advent calendar I feel as though those who want to be up to date on it, are so. But, in my eyes, it was the greatest test series for a generation.

I’ve mentioned the first ball here because it continues my point. In the runup to the series there was so much anticipation and discourse around Bazball, and “would England continue to play in the same way?”. For Zac Crawley to stand and deliver off the first ball of the series was a statement and it rung true all summer.

Thinking back now, we get swept up in “What if Manchester?” and Broad’s fairytale finish but there was a point where we were 2-0 down and on the brink of losing The Ashes and so much of what Stokes and McCullum had worked for was looking like it would be undone.

There was a great deal of noise. Cries that this new style of play couldn’t work against the highest quality test nations. But this didn’t appear to permeate the walls of The Bazball camp. To come back from 2-0 down in Ashes series and be within touching distance of regaining the urn takes tremendous amounts of mental strength; arguably more than we give these boys credit for.

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England have just lost in Pakistan and the media is calling for heads. All of a sudden, despite accumulating the 4th highest test score of all time, after two test match losses the selection methodology of Stokes and McCullum is flawed.

We’ve been here before; we’ve seen this before.

Analysis in cricket is too black and white, and Bazball will stand the test of time.

England were 2-0 down in the ashes and no negativity, seemingly, permeated the Bazball bubble. Stokes and McCullum made slight adjustments within a squad of players they had picked and we went from The Ashes almost being over with 2 tests still to play, to being within one sunny day of a historic test series victory.

Bazball doesn’t just refer to a manner of playing Test Match Cricket, it outlines a culture. There are clips of Stuart Broad explaining how they want the dressing room to be a haven of positivity, and the way Broad specifically went about implementing it is by stating something positive every time he enters the room. It could be about his morning walk, or his coffee. With the excitement there is around playing for England at the moment, and the constant stream of new young players coming into the setup, this positivity doesn’t feel like something that is fading, or will begin to soon.

Despite losing to Pakistan, history indicates that England won’t let this negativity get to them. There were good signs throughout the seires as well; Jamie Smith was excellent in conditions that were tough for a keeper and our batting, when not spinning sideways, looks to be in an excellent space.

I can’t wait for the Ashes.

Words by Henry Eccles