Cricketing legends and fans alike have been left stunned after England’s ridiculous 506-4 off 75 overs — and Brendon McCullum’s ‘Bazball’ approach is “rewriting the Test rule book”.
Four top order batsmen scored centuries, with Zak Crawley (122) belting the fast ever by an English opener to kick off proceedings in the first Test at Rawalpindi.
Ollie Pope blasted his way to 108 while both Harry Brook (101*) and Ben Duckett (107) scored their maiden Test centuries and McCullum’s side scored at a ridiculous 6.75 runs per over.
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Their total was the second highest ever in a single day of Test cricket, beaten only by Sri Lanka’s 509 against Bangladesh in 2009 — and English great Michael Vaughan believes we are witnessing a revolution in the longest format of the game.
“We have to be honest about what England are doing. They are trying to change Test cricket and, eight games in, it is going pretty well,” Vaughan wrote in The Telegraph.
“It’s not like they’ve done it once and then struggled for three games. They had one blip but otherwise it’s been consistently excellent.
“We will look back on it and see Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum being the dual combination that changed Test match cricket: the way it is played, and the way we think about it.”
Vaughan also hailed Ben Stokes’ captaincy and the influence he has had on the team since taking over from Joe Root in April this year.
He also signalled a shift in the mindset of the modern day cricket who looks to take on the bowler at every chance — instead of waiting until the day’s end to capitalise on a flat wicket when bowlers are fatigued.
“I’ve not known a captain in my time, watching or playing the game, to have had such an impact on a team. Look at where the England team were before. One win in 17, thrashed in Australia playing cricket completely opposite to this,” Vaughan wrote.
“Watch them play these shots. They are what we would have considered risky in my era. They are not risky to them, because they are so conditioned to it from white-ball cricket.
“They are an everyday action these players do. It sounds mad to say that scoring at close to seven an over isn’t complete bonkers.
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“They are brought up to do it. It is all about mindset and language. Kids coming through these days don’t believe that if a bowler is bowling well you can’t score.
“They don’t respond to the language I grew up with about getting bowlers into their second, third, fourth spells, then capitalising.“
Critics of England’s stunning display have pointed to the flat Rawalpindi wicket and the inexperienced Pakistan bowling attack.
However, The Daily Mail’s Paul Newman isn’t buying into the “caveats” and made a huge statement about Test cricket moving forward following “one of the most significant developments in Test cricket history.
“England are not only rewriting the Test rule book but they really could be saving the grand old form of the game – and they are doing it by playing in a way that not even the most attacking teams of the past have attempted,” Newman wrote.
“It was one thing Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum transforming England’s Test fortunes almost overnight last summer from the depths of one win in 14 games to defeat New Zealand, India and South Africa in the most imaginative and exciting way possible.
“It is quite another to smash more than 500 runs on the first day of Test cricket England have played in Pakistan for 17 years and doing it in 75 overs.
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“All that anxiety about overseas conditions and an awful away record blown away in little more than six hours.”
The term ‘Bazball’ derives from McCullum’s own style of play — aggressive and with intent shown in the shorter forms of the game.
While the former New Zealand Test opener has openly admitted he thinks the term is “silly”, he has undoubtedly changed the way England play Test cricket and Newman believes his side took it to a new level against Pakistan.
“This first day of the first Test was not just Bazball. It was Bazball on steroids.
“If, in this franchise laden world, we really are witnessing Test cricket’s ‘last dance’ then England have hired a warehouse and are putting on a chemically enhanced rave.
“And that is why, played like this, it is Test cricket, the game that can last five days without a result, the game that would never be invented today if we were starting from scratch, that can attract new followers at a supposed time of crisis.
“There really is no need for anything artificial. Just the real thing played in a very modern way.”
