England have looked fearless in Test cricket and have chased targets with ease.
Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting was impressed with England’s ‘Bazball’ concept. He said he is keen to see if they can play the same way during the Ashes series.
England’s Bazball concept has taken the world by storm. Under the new leadership of Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, they have looked at a completely different side as they have adopted a fearless approach and instead of being conservative, which they followed earlier, they are going for the kill.
England has looked a completely different side on the field as they have played an attacking brand of cricket and made many applaud them for their heroics.
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Their aggressive style of play was quite evident throughout the Test series against New Zealand, which they won by the margin of 3-0, and a one-off Test against India. In all four matches, England changed big totals with ease and made a mockery of opposition bowlers.
Speaking during the ICC review, Ricky Ponting called England’s Bazball concept ‘unbelievable’, saying that it has ‘reinvigorated’ Test cricket.
“So far it has been unbelievable, and it has actually almost reinvigorated Test match cricket again, hasn’t it? It’s not just coaching, but to be able to change the attitude of some of the English players to not be scared about getting out and to be fully committed to thinking about scoring runs and when you get the ball in your hand to be as aggressive as you can and set nice and aggressive fields," Ricky Ponting said.
Ponting said that it will be interesting to see if England is willing to follow the same approach in the Ashes or not.
“The interesting thing is going to be Australia over there (in England) in the middle of next year for an Ashes series. When the real pressure of an Ashes series comes around, it’ll be interesting to see if this England team is willing to play the same way," he said.
Ponting said that there’s not much difference between England and Australia as both are almost on the same page, saying that if the match will take place next month, the Stokes-led side will start as favourites.
“I don’t think there is much between the teams right now. I think there was a big gap between the England team that toured Australia last summer and the current Australian team. I thought there was a big gap in class. Just on the back of what they have done in their home conditions, England would probably start slight favourites if it was to happen next month," he said.
Pointing pointed out that England has a good balance of youth and experience, which is key to success.
“And what England have got right now is a good balance of youth and experience. Some of the younger guys they have brought into that team for that last series obviously didn’t have the mental scars that some of the older other guys might have had,” he said.
Ponting said after "an amazing 18 months", the fate of BazBall will come down to the players attitude i.e. whether they can continue the aggressive approach even after losing a few games because of it.
“The emergence of (Jonny) Bairstow in the middle order and Joe Root continuing on what has been an amazing 18 months, it’s going to come down to the attitude. The players are not going to lose their skills in the next few months, but if they just happen to have a few bad games where this really positive, aggressive approach doesn’t pay off, are they going to be strong enough mentally to keep playing that way? That is the challenge that Brendon and the players are going to have, and it is going to be intriguing for me and a lot of others to sit back and watch," he said.
(ICC Inputs)