Ben Stokes and his colleagues were “devastated” after England’s loss in the first Ashes Test in Birmingham, but also “proud” of being able to “stand up to Australia” in the way they wanted to play.
But did England’s possibility of winning, when Australia were eight down with 54 more to get in their 281-run target at Edgbaston on Tuesday, make captain Stokes a tad over-excited that he and the bowlers became too predictable with their moves?
Former Australia and Kolkata Knight Riders head coach John Buchanan believes so.
“Aggressive, unusual, well-researched, gut-feel, wicket conditions, all factored into Stokes’ field placings. There would seem little doubt that they worked on occasions. For instance, during (Usman) Khawaja’s dismissal in the first innings. When a batsman’s concentration is distracted, he’s vulnerable then. So Stokes, in conjunction with his bowlers, were relatively unpredictable.
“But in the second innings, with (Pat) Cummins and (Nathan) Lyon at the crease and a win only two wickets away, I think it was Stokes who became distracted by the possibility of winning, which saw he and the bowlers abandoning what they had done for the entire Test match,” Buchanan, one of Australia’s most successful coaches, told The Telegraph from Brisbane on Wednesday.
“In that period, Cummins and Lyon rode their good fortune, and by the time Stokes reverted, the game had been taken away by the ninth-wicket partnership,” Buchanan feels.
England, as Stokes has been asserting prior to the start of this Ashes, will not be moving an inch away from Bazball as they are “not a results-driven team”, which the skipper said after the two-wicket loss. However, the ongoing series could well go on to determine if Bazball is an ideal way to be in a position of command in a Test match.
“The Ashes will be a further insight to whether Bazball is the new game in town,” Buchanan commented.