Paul Collingwood, England assistant coach, has reacted to Australian players’ comments on their ‘Bazball’ mode of playing Test cricket ahead of the Ashes 2023, which begins in Edgbaston from June 16 onwards.
Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, the team’s captain and coach, have pushed the players to express themselves and let go of their inhibitions. This has led to England winning 11 of their last 13 Tests, they are coming up against a unit that has won 10 and lost just two of the last 15 Ashes Tests.
Australia are also freshly minted world Test champions, brimming with confidence from a 209-run win over India at The Oval last week.
Recently, Australian batter Steve Smith stated that he would like to see how successful is England’s aggressive approach against the Australian bowlers in the Ashes.
Reacting to this, Paul Collingwood said in an media interaction by Sony Sports: “Every team we have come up against has doubted whether we can have that approach against their bowling attack. It’s fun for us. It may be successful. It may not be successful. But the overall vision of the team is to make Test cricket more exciting. We are certainly going to be trying. What makes sport so exciting is the uncertainty about what’s going to happen. We are confident we can do it, but who knows? If it doesn’t work, people say we failed. Maybe not. We are trying to push the boundaries of what can be achieved in Test cricket.”
On the other hand, Glenn McGrath believes Bazball won’t bear fruit against Australia’s pace attack of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Scott Boland. South Africa and India may have believed the same when they toured England last year.
England Has Decided To Keep The Game Going No Matter The Opposition Or Situation And Keep Test Cricket Entertaining: Paul Collingwood
Collingwood points to the team’s comeback against South Africa at home last year as evidence of unflinching trust in their method. They were shot out for 165 and 149 in an innings defeat at Lord’s but bounced back with thumping wins in the next two Tests.
“In the first year, it’s not always gone according to plan. The way the players and the staff responded (to the loss against SA) is to be very consistent emotionally,” the former England T20 captain recollected. “It’s not always going to work, but you almost want to go harder. That’s what the white-ball team did. There’s a very consistent message from us to keep the game plan going and to keep entertaining,” he added.
The way England plays has inspired others to adopt a similar strategy. Rohit Sharma, the captain of India, has frequently argued that his team has to take a more proactive approach to batting.