England's ultra-aggressive approach has brought plenty of highs and some self-inflicted lows, but their thrilling win over India — chasing down 371 to win the first Test — showed a refined version of "Bazball" that could produce a year to remember.
Starting the day needing 351 more runs to win, England's openers knocked off the majority of the runs, with Ben Duckett top-scoring with 149 and Zak Crawley playing an unusually conservative role with the slowest half-century of his career to finish 65 off 126 in a 188-run opening stand.
Crawley and first-innings century-maker Ollie Pope fell in successive Prasidh Krishna overs in the afternoon, and Shardul Thakur was on a hat-trick when he got Duckett and Harry Brook in consecutive deliveries.
But, after a brief cameo by captain Ben Stokes, the last 70 runs were picked off by Joe Root and wicketkeeper Jamie Smith as England completed the 10th highest successful run chase in Test history.
[scorecard]It was a more balanced approach than some of England's recent attempts to change the game with audacious slogging that came off about as often as it failed.
When coach Brendon McCullum teamed up with big-hitting skipper Stokes, the term 'Bazball' quickly became a staple in cricket vernacular, both as a compliment and with derision.
A team that had won one of their previous 17 Test matches not only enjoyed an uplift in results, the manner of their victories came about thanks to a rapid run rate rarely seen in Test cricket.
Criticism came when their aggressive approach was seen as too cavalier, especially during the 2023 Ashes series where they ended up drawing the series despite being in positions to win many games, with players admitting their primary goal was to entertain.
Stokes hinted prior to the highly anticipated Test series against India that his team would refine their approach, to become "smarter" in certain situations.
After an exhilarating five-wicket victory over India in the first Test, a controlled England backed up their skipper's promises.
"The conversations have been tweaked a little bit about being a little bit more clinical and winning more games certainly," Crawley told Sky Sports.
"There's been certain times in the last few years maybe where we've thrown away winning positions and that's what we're trying to just tweak a little bit now, be a fraction more clinical."
A performance former captain Michael Vaughan labelled "Bazball with brains" ensured a crucial period got off to the perfect start ahead of 10 Tests, with the Ashes series in Australia to come next, which could define the McCullum-Stokes era.
"Everyone who went out there and got runs read the situation," Stokes told reporters after England's Headingley win.
"We chose our moments to actually put pressure back on them. We could see, in moments where the game could swing, that we needed to assess and hold off on that pressure.
"Winning any test match is a lot of hard work, but to start a series off with a victory in the way that we've done it here, is very satisfying."
Stokes was the only member of England's top six not to have a knock of at least 40 runs in the game, but he did take vital wickets in both Indian innings in his second Test back from a torn hamstring.
Reuters/ABC
