It’s Bazball vs Old School as most anticipated England vs Australia series since 2005 begins
There is no doubt this Ashes series is the most eagerly-anticipated since 2005. No wonder, given it pits a resurgent England against an Australia team who only last week were officially crowned the world’s best.
Pat Cummins’ men started their journey to that World Test Championship title with a 4-0 drubbing of England in the winter of 2021-22.
Yet the world has moved on from that Covid-ravaged series in Australia, and England, under the inspirational leadership of coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, are an entirely different proposition from 18 months ago.
Bazball has not only revolutionised this England team but subverted the long-held norms of Test cricket. With 11 wins from 13 Tests since McCullum and Stokes came together last summer, it offers a compelling argument for the new way.
Everyone they have come up against in the past year has questioned whether this uber-aggressive approach would work against them. Every time, the answer from England has been emphatic.
Australia have long questioned whether Bazball would come off against their bowling attack, with Steve Smith first doing so last summer when he publicly asked whether it was sustainable in the long-term.
This series should answer that question, squeezing five Tests into six weeks. This is a team pushing the boundaries of what is possible in Test cricket against one whose adherence to convention has taken them to the top of the world. Put simply, this is Bazball versus Old School and the outcome of this series may well decide whether the rest of the world follow England’s example or resist it.
Given the parlous state of Test cricket – and McCullum and Stokes’ stated goal of trying to save it – there is more than just Anglo-Australian bragging rights on offer this summer.
Yet the clash of cultures, the high stakes and the fact nobody can predict what will happen only heightens the excitement of what’s to come. Australia are vying to win an away Ashes for the first time in 22 years and England’s hunger to win the urn for the first time since 2015 adds petrol to the bonfire of expectation.
As such, the hype in the run-up to this series has been off the charts.
Yet England’s big strength is the fact they are treating this like any other series. The clear message is they will not be overcome by the pressure of expectation nor frozen by fear of failure.
Instead they will swat aside questions about whether Bazball can work against Australia and do what they do best – try to take down Cummins’ men in the most aggressive fashion possible. “We know how we are going to play,” said Stokes.
“That is how England play. It is not about going out and doing anything different. The message around are we going to still play like this against the Australia attack or any attack needs to be knocked on the head because we have found a way that works for us and that is our natural game.”
Key to how England fare in this opening Test will be whether Stokes can bowl enough overs to justify his all-rounder tag following the chronic tendonitis in his left knee that left him lame in the field by the end of last winter’s final series in New Zealand.
Stokes is confident he is as fit as he was in 2019, when he inspired England to World Cup glory and singlehandedly won an epic Ashes Test at Headingley. Some of that may be bluster, some of it kidology, but he has been bowling in the nets this week and is confident he can play a full part with the ball at Edgbaston.
“The last 3 days have been really good for my confidence,” he said. “I’ve bowled every day so far and been able to run in with more intensity day-by-day so I have got myself in a really good position. “David Saker has come in [as bowling coach] and he mentioned something saying if you are still bowling by the fourth or fifth Test then we have done something right.”
Stokes also explained the decision to pick Stuart Broad ahead of the all-out pace of Mark Wood.
“Broady’s record against Australia is incredible,” he said. “It’s very hard to look past someone like that, in the opening game of the series, especially against Australia.”
