England adopted an ultra-aggressive approach to Test cricket when Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took charge as captain and coach last year.
With this approach, famously dubbed as Bazball, the Three Lions experienced great success as well. They defeated New Zealand, India and South Africa at home and then whitewashed Pakistan 3-0 in an away series. They also played a 1-1 drawn series on the tour of New Zealand earlier this year.
However, the Bazball style backfired in the first Ashes Test against Australia at Edgbaston in Birmingham.
In the Ashes 2023 opener, England declared their first innings at 393/8 after 78 overs on Day 1 when Joe Root was batting on 118 not out. After securing a meagre 7-run lead, the hosts came out swinging in their second innings, posting 273 even without any of their batters reaching fifty.
However, the Pat Cummins-led Australian side abide by the traditional style to register a narrow two-wicket victory.
After the Edgbaston Test result, England’s aggressive approach came under the scanner. However, batting legend Matthew Hayden praised the Stokes-led side for their brand of cricket and asked the Australian team to learn from it.
“They (England) will only know one way to play now. Stokes really said it in his press conference as well. ‘Look, we didn’t get that result but that’s not going to stop the way that we want to go about our business’. In fact, I reckon Australian cricket can learn a bit from it (BazBall),” Hayden said on SENQ Breakfast.
“It was a brilliant five days. You couldn’t stop watching it,” he added.
Despite the victory, Hayden feels Australia will have to change their tactics in the second Test and the batters need to take a cue from the BazBall.
“Some of the senior players – Davey Warner a big tick, just his attitude, the way that he was in to the ball, good body language. Usman Khawaja occupying the crease but also could probably find a gear when he has to relieve pressure off some of the other players.
“Alex Carey had a fantastic game, Marnus Labuschagne at the moment does look like he’s really caught on the crease so he’s going to have some work to do on that BazBall mentality.
“I think (Steve) Smith is also a bit the same. He was fantastic through certain periods of the World Test Championship, but those two key players (Labuschagne and Smith) for us can get a little defensive. They’re more defensive than attacking and I’d really like to see them explore and extend upon their current mindset as a batting unit.”
Hayden also expressed his wish to see David Warner taking on Ollie Robinson, who was involved in a heated exchange with Usman Khawaja at Edgbaston.
“As soon as Pat Cummins started coming at Joe Root and hit a couple of sixes,” he said.
“Then the other bloke (Ollie Robinson), he’s a forgettable cricketer. A fast bowler that is bowling 124 (kph) nude nuts and he’s got a mouth from the south.”
“Someone like him, you can just go, ‘Brother, I’m coming at ya’. Davey Warner can do that, right. He can just say, ‘You’re bowling 120km…’”
