Andrew Strauss, a former England captain and an administrator, believes England are doing the right thing with the way they are approaching Test cricket. He also doesn’t agree with the perception that Bazball (England’s attacking playing style) is too risky.
“What they’ve done is no mean feat,” Strauss told The Telegraph. “They have converted the players to a radical approach. On the surface, it’s much higher-risk. In truth, I don’t think it is. The reason it’s so confronting to people is because there have been these self-limiting conventions in Test cricket for over 150 years. But with the skills the players have now, and with a flat pitch and tired bowlers, you should be whacking it. The odds are in your favour.”
Strauss believes how you play is as important as winning, itself.
“When I was playing, I thought it was only about winning. But over time, I’ve come to realise that it’s also about how you play. Supporters want to see teams have a go, playing beautiful rugby or football or cricket, doing things that are innovative and different. It’s exciting, you don’t know how it’s going to play out. If you can combine that with winning, it’s truly a magical formula,” Strauss said.
England declared at the fag end of the opening day, a declaration that led to some criticism in hindsight after their loss. England’s strike bowler James Anderson had come out in support of the captain Ben Stokes’s decision.
I had my pads on waiting to bat when Ben declared. He said he would have declared in the same position against any team in the world so why should it be different in an Ashes series? It was a positive move,” Anderson wrote in the Telegraph.
Their opening batsman Zak Crawley also backed the overall style of play, even going as far as predicting that England would win the second Test by a margin of 150 runs.
“I think the pitch will suit us a bit more so I think we’ll win by, I don’t know, 150 runs? We’re not about results. We’re not about winning or losing, we’re about entertainment. That’s why we took [this loss] better than other losses perhaps, because it was great for the game. Of course we’re there to win and it helps our brand and what we’re trying to do.If we win, we get more traction. But I don’t think we’ve lost anything other than a game of cricket,” Crawley said on Times Radio.
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