England vs West Indies: Bazball V2 shown in second Test makes hosts more dangerous – Jonathan Agnew
And so, in Nottingham, the circle became complete. A year ago, faced with a first-innings deficit of 41, England would have come out in their second innings looking to go ‘bang, bang’ and score runs as quickly as possible.
This time, they played sensibly to ensure they earned the lead that would eventually win them the match. England’s batting was still positive, but measured. It was the work of a team intent on winning matches and series, which they hadn’t done for more than a year.
An intelligent England team is a more dangerous England team, because they and their opponents will know they have the gears to go through when needed.
As an example, the third Ashes Test, when England dished out a proper Bazballing only to be thwarted by rain, will live long in the memory of the Australia bowlers. Someone like Zak Crawley is still the same player who hit the first ball of that Ashes series for four. The likes of Ben Duckett and Harry Brook just go out and bat, because they score quickly anyway.
And Joe Root, who will end up with more Test runs than any other England batter, is playing like Joe Root. I got the impression he was quite badly affected by the Bazball mentality, none more so than when he was dismissed reverse-scooping Jasprit Bumrah in India.
At Trent Bridge Root played his trademark shot, but not until he had a century to his name in the second innings. Sir Alastair Cook, sitting next to me in the Test Match Special box, actually called it as bowler Shamar Joseph was running in. It was the right moment to play it, rather than doing something silly in an attempt to make a statement to the opposition.
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