Bazball has become a hot topic of discussion in English cricket. From the English media issuing it as the new dawn of batting in Test matches to Paul Collingwood stating it could save Test cricket and even the coach of the English national soccer team Gareth Southgate proclaiming that his side would take inspiration from the Test team.
However, a major weakness of Bazball in managing the bowlers could soon become apparent in the Ashes. While the English team’s batting style is exciting to watch, it does place an enormous strain on their pace stable.
The English side only batted for 144.2 of the 353 overs bowled in the First Test at Edgbaston. The main Aussie pace trio of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazelwood, and Scott Boland only bowled 83.2 overs in comparison to Broad, Anderson, and Robinson’s 122.4 overs.
The English bowlers were given little respite from their batting teammates as the Bazball brigade through aggressive strokes and aggressive tactics from captain Stokes never batted for even a whole days worth of overs which meant their pacers bowled in every single day of the first Test.
By the conclusion of the game, Stuart Broad in particular looked visibly fatigued having had to bowl 44 overs.
England’s short ball plans to Khawaja, Head, and the tail would also increase the toll placed upon the English pace battery as the bouncer is one of the more high-stress deliveries that a bowler has in their arsenal.
England haven’t played in a long series since they adopted the Bazball mantra. The longest that they have played have been Test series comprising three Tests. Over a long five-Test series, cricket becomes a battle of attrition with teams having to manage the workloads of their quicks.
With how the frenetic batting of England places a greater burden on their bowlers, by the end of the Ashes, England’s frontline pacers could effectively have accrued an extra match’s worth of bowling workload in comparison to Australia.
The Ashes also will have small periods of rest for the quicks with the third and fifth Tests occurring very shortly after the conclusion of the Tests before. There are only four days from the final scheduled day of the second Test and the first day of the third. This is the same gap between the fourth and fifth Tests.
This is going to force England to have to rotate their bowlers more heavily than Australia in order to prevent a drop-off in performance from their pace stable and to avert the risks of injury due to being over bowled which gives Australia the advantage of getting more looks at facing England’s depth options rather than their front liners.
Whereas, the English batsmen will likely have to face more of the quicks that Australia deems most suited to the conditions.
Australia winning the first Test could be a major scalp as the aggressive batting of England under their new doctrinal philosophy places a greater strain on their bowlers which could disadvantage the hosts as the series progresses.
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