When Stuart Broad took his 600th Test wicket on Wednesday, social media lit up with tributes from former Australian cricketers, admiring his skill, competitive instinct and resilience. He in turn spoke glowingly of the lessons he learned while playing for Hoppers Crossing as a teenager and the admiration he formed for Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.
Has the world gone mad? Was this the Stuart Broad who infuriated Australia by not walking when plainly out in 2013, the agent provocateur who declared the Ashes series here two summers ago “void”, the fiend who gets David Warner out at will? It was, the one and same.
Stuart Broad celebrates his 600th Test wicket.Credit: AP
But all this ahistorical bonhomie was no more madcap than the events at Old Trafford on Friday. Broad was like the rest of us, an agog spectator, as England’s top order – an advised term, since it included the semi-retired Moeen Ali – obliterated Australia’s vaunted attack and lanky Zak Crawley smashed 189 at run-a-ball and Joe Root did Joe Root things and not two months after Australia were crowned world Test champions, they fell apart in an Ashes Test.
So here’s an even madder thought. Maybe we should barrack for England to win the series, or at least give Australia a hell of a fright, if they haven’t already. Heresy, I know. But it would be the most powerful validation of Bazball yet. And if we put our green-and-gold glasses to one side to be used for the Matildas, we might see that the world could do with a little more Bazball. Test cricket is certainly better for the way Bazball is spreading.
The central intrigue of this Ashes series as it began was whether Bazball would stand up against Australia. Australian pundits nodded at each other knowingly. Now the results are in, at least provisionally. The first three Tests all were close, establishing for Australia a lead, but not supremacy. At the time of writing, England are dominating the fourth and have all the momentum.
Crawley’s innings was as chancy as it was breathtaking. Far from a knock on him, this is the point. Critiques of Bazball tend to dwell on its seeming blitheness without allowing for its inherent calculation.
Zak Crawley hits out.Credit: Getty Images.
Crawley expanded on this, himself (everything he did this day was expansive). It won’t always work for him or any individual, but it will work for someone often enough. Chance is factored into the thinking. Meantime, Root has actually normalised the reverse ramp. It sounds like it belongs to a BMX park, not Test cricket. It usually goes for six.
Historically, Australia have played a version of Bazball, but England have taken it to a new level. We might even have to start to think about how we frame our appreciation of greatness. Simple averages might be too simple.
Pat Cummins looks for answers as Zak Crawley gathers more runs.Credit: AP
England have won all the tosses and set the terms throughout the series. This Test, for the first time, we’ve witnessed the toll that Bazball takes other than in wickets and runs. Without uttering a word, England have inflicted on Australia – dare it be said – mental disintegration.
This was tacitly apparent at selection, where Australia dared not expose callow off-spinner Todd Murphy to these murderous Bazballers. It was a very un-Australian selection. It was apparent in Australia’s nervous batting.
On Thursday in England, the disintegration was manifest on the field. Australia have rarely been so shambolic in recent times. It was enough to call into question for the first time the whole fast-bowler-as-captain project.
It’s useless to protest that it would have been different if Nathan Lyon was fit. It might have been different, too, if Joffra Archer was fit for England, or for that matter Ben Stokes was fit to bowl. There is no column in the scorebook for moot points.
Accompanying the Bazball revolution is a generous spirit. Shattered though they were, many of the Australians went to Crawley when he was out with an outstretched hand or a pat on the back. Humility is a harder act than magnanimity. To veterans in the Old Trafford crowd, this must have come across as evidence that these Australians indeed have gone mad.
And yes, we have to admit it was more fun when we could safely patronise tall, slim, pale English cricketers rather than honour them.
PS: About barracking for an England win: only joking. This is the Ashes!
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