In the absence of Broad and Anderson, the challenge for Stokes and McCullum is to manage their bowling strategy
Sidharth Monga30-Jun-20251:53
Did we see a refined version of Bazball at Headingley?
Since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over as captain and coach, England have won 16 out of 21 home Tests, winning series against New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies and Sri Lanka, and drawing the Ashes 2-2. The essence of the way they play lies in scoring quickly rather than batting longer. In the Ashes, England’s batters scored 2920 runs in 3938 balls; their bowlers conceded a similar number of runs – 2851 – in 5389 balls. They lost 85 wickets and took 93.England have looked to upset the way Test cricket has viewed risk. It seems they have felt good balls are over-rated and have looked to score off them. Not all boundaries, but boundaries and, as a result of that approach, singles and twos into the spread-out field.In that Ashes, for example, Australia’s fast bowlers bowled 40.1% of their deliveries on a good length of 6-8m; England 41.7%. However, England batters averaged 39.35 and scored at 3.69 an over against this good length as against Australia’s average of 14.97 and scoring rate of just 1.82 per over. England took 37 wickets from a good length; Australia 20.Related
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Let’s restrict this to good-length balls on and just outside off stump to qualify good balls better. England lost no wicket to such deliveries, scoring at 4.05 an over, but took seven wickets and conceded at 2.13 per over.The trend continued in every series, though averaging 40 against good balls in the Ashes was truly a one-off. The New Zealand series is more representative of Bazball because both sides bowled a similar number of good-length balls – 1140 and 1097 – but England scored 517 runs for 18 wickets to New Zealand’s 288 runs for 16 wickets. More shots played but similar number of wickets lost.Against South Africa, England’s batters averaged 14.23 and scored at 2.79 per over to the visitors’ 7.17 and 1.55. Against West Indies, these numbers were 30.66 and 3.33 as against the visitors’ 9.3 and 2.1.2:38
Is Stokes’ bowling workload a worry?
A prerequisite to score against what the world regards as good balls is flatter pitches. Not pancake flat, but surfaces on which you can hit through the line of the ball and ones that don’t deteriorate much. That’s why Bazball didn’t work in India. The surfaces in England, though, have complied. The Dukes balls getting softer sooner hasn’t hurt them either. In fact, the conditions have tended to improve for batting as the match has progressed to the extent that bowling first is now the preferred choice in England. The batting averages for each innings in England since 2022 have been 32.28, 34.98, 26.91 and 44.7. Stokes knew what he was doing when he chose to bowl against India in Leeds.Batting, though, is the easier part. To win Tests on these flat pitches, you need to take 20 wickets. The real heroes of England’s home run are the bowlers, who have found ways to take wickets by consistently swinging the ball more than their opponents and also bowling a higher number of high-seam deliveries.Take the Ashes. When bowling on a good length, England’s bowlers extracted 1.008 degrees of swing on average as against Australia’s 0.637. Their average seam movement was only negligibly higher, but this is where we need to look at high-seam deliveries. Ones that nip more than 0.5 degrees, which could point to the use of wobble-seam deliveries. England bowled 489 deliveries that seamed big left to right as against Australia’s 238. They nipped 414 deliveries big from right to left as against Australia’s 272.England will need to bowl better lengths against India•PA Photos/Getty ImagesHigher average swing and more big-seam deliveries for England’s bowlers, to go with their batters playing more scoring shots to good lengths, has been the trend during the Bazball years. They seem to understand better than the visitors that you try and swing the ball more between overs 11 and 30, and wobble the seam at other times.England have had three constants to facilitate that: flatter pitches, skilful and experienced bowlers in these conditions, and attacking batters. In Jimmy Anderson, Broad and Ollie Robinson, England had a lot of class in the bowling department.Now, against India, they have an attack comprising Chris Woakes and Stokes as the only two experienced fast bowlers. Brydon Carse was playing his first first-class match at Headingley. They struggled to, in the words of Broad, hold length, although they did swing it more than India. They bowled only 37.95% of their deliveries in the good-length zone as against India’s 47.33%. Their average swing of 1.119 was higher than India’s 0.917. India outbowled England on high-seam deliveries on a good length by 133 to 69.The flat pitches and attacking batters are there, but the third ingredient is missing for England. They don’t have the class in the bowling, and this is where India’s chance of countering Bazball lies. Bear in mind England still managed to average 45 and score at 3.46 an over against the good length, but India were 33.75 and 2.23.If the pitches remain flat, we could see England using short-pitched bowling and creative fields more often. How they manage their strategy in the absence of world-class bowling will be interesting to see. As will India’s plans to counter them.
