Bowling strategy key for England in Broad and Anderson’s absence as Bazball ticks 2 out of 3 boxes so far.
In the absence of Broad and Anderson, the challenge for Stokes and McCullum is to manage their bowling strategy.
England has won 16 of 21 home Test matches since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over as captain and coach. They have also drawn the Ashes 2-2 and won series against South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies. Their style of play is centred on scoring runs fast rather than batting for longer. England’s bowlers gave up 2851 runs in 5389 balls, while their batsmen scored 2920 runs in 3938 balls during the Ashes. They took 93 and lost 85 wickets.
England changed the perception of danger in Test cricket. They have tried to score off of good passes because they believe they are overrated. Not all Boundaries, but boundaries, and singles and twos into the dispersed field as a result of that strategy.
Flat surfaces are a requirement to score against what is considered to be good balls. Surfaces that don’t deteriorate greatly and that you can strike through the ball’s line are preferred over pancake flat surfaces. Bazball didn’t function in India because of this. In England, however, the surfaces have complied. It hasn’t harmed the Dukes’ balls either to get softer sooner.
But the easier part is batting. On these flat fields, you need to take 20 wickets to win Test matches. The bowlers are the true heroes of England’s home run, as they have figured out ways to take wickets by bowling more high-seam deliveries and constantly swinging the ball more than their opponents.
The trend over the Bazball years has been for England’s bowlers to have a higher average swing and more big-seam deliveries, in addition to their batters playing more scoring smashes to excellent lengths. The fact that you try to swing the ball more between overs 11 and 30 and wobble the seam at other times appears to be something they understand better than the visitors.
Three things have helped England with that: offensive hitters, flat pitches, and bowlers who are skilled and accustomed to these circumstances. In terms of bowling, England possessed a lot of class in Jimmy Anderson, Broad, and Ollie Robinson.
England lacks the third component, despite having offensive hitters and flat pitches. India has an opportunity to counter Bazball because they lack the class in their bowling. Remember that India was at 33.75 and 2.23, while England was still able to score at 3.46 an over and average 45 against the decent length.
England may use imaginative fields and short-pitched bowling more frequently if the pitches stay level. It will be intriguing to observe how they handle their approach without top-tier bowling. So will India’s strategies to combat them.