Bazball’s nine biggest blunders: Where do Edgbaston, Shoaib Bashir and the reverse theory rank? And why should one controversial decision NOT be on the list?
England’s Bazballers have given their fans some amazing moments since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum joined forces in 2022.
Following a harrowing run of one win in 17 Tests under Joe Root and Chris Silverwood, the Bazball era has delivered 24 wins from 38 matches – the highest win percentage of any country in world cricket in that time.
But among the highs, there have also been some clangers. Stokes and McCullum’s daring nature means the risks are often as high as the rewards, and that can backfire.
Here, Wisden Editor LAWRENCE BOOTH looks at the nine worst Bazball blunders – which do you agree and disagree with, which was the worst, and are there any you would add to the list?
1. Enforcing the follow-on at Wellington
When New Zealand, 1-0 down with one to play, slipped to 103 for seven in reply to England’s 435 for 8 at Wellington, there could be only one winner.
But Tim Southee smashed 73 off 49 balls to get the hosts to 209, at which point Ben Stokes enforced the follow-on. Mistake.
Had England batted again, with a lead of 226, they would have won easily. Instead, they offered New Zealand their only conceivable route back into the game.
And they gratefully took it, reaching 483 in their second innings, then bowling England out for 256 to win by one run.
It deprived Stokes’s team of a fourth successive series win heading into the Ashes, and raised questions about their desire to get on the golf course. Clanger rating: 7/10
England became just the fourth team to lose a Test after enforcing the follow-on, at Wellington in 2023 when they came up one run short
2. Rushing Jonny Bairstow back for the Ashes
Bairstow ended up enjoying a good series in 2023, thrashing a memorable 99 not out at Old Trafford and an important 78 at The Oval. His glovework, too, improved.
But he wasn’t match fit at the start of the series, when he still seemed to have problems diving low to his left, following the awful fracture he suffered on the golf course.
That meant he failed to go for an edge provided by Usman Khawaja off Jimmy Anderson at the start of Australia’s pursuit of 281 at Edgbaston. Khawaja anchored the chase with a five-hour 65, and Australia won by two wickets.
It left England needing to win three of the last four Tests to regain the Ashes, but they were scuppered by the Manchester weather. Bairstow’s body, more than Stokes’s first-evening declaration, proved the difference. Clanger rating: 7/10
3. Happy hookers
One-nil down after the thriller at Edgbaston, England had their chance at Lord’s when Nathan Lyon tore a calf muscle with the scoreboard reading 182 for one in reply to Australia’s 416.
But instead of forcing the Australians’ three frontline seamers to work for their wickets while the spinner was in hospital, England walked headlong into a trap.
Faced with a barrage of bouncers, they cheerfully hooked their way to defeat, despite Stokes’s second-innings fireworks. It was game-management of the most thoughtless kind. Clanger rating: 8/10
Harry Brook, well set on 50, falls into Australia’s trap and hooks Mitchell Starc down the throat of Pat Cummins at Lord’s. England lost the match by 43 runs to go 2-0 down in the Ashes
4. Reverse, reverse!
Then, as now, England and India were all square at 1-1 heading to the third Test, at Rajkot. And when they reached 224 for two in reply to India’s 445, they had manoeuvred themselves into a position of strength.
Instead, Joe Root played perhaps the most notorious shot of the Bazball era, reverse-scooping Jasprit Bumrah into the hands of Yashasvi Jaiswal in the slips.
England collapsed to 319 and ended up losing by 434 runs. What made the shot harder to understand was the absence that day of India’s No 1 spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin, who was visiting his sick mother.
Shades of Nathan Lyon and Lord’s… Clanger rating: 8.5/10
5. Taking liberties at the Oval
England arrived in Kennington for the final Test of the 2024 summer hoping to pull off their first clean sweep in a home season for 20 years.
But the selection of Leicestershire’s young left-arm seamer Josh Hull, after a dreadful time at county level, suggested they were not taking Sri Lanka as seriously as they should have done.
Hull bowled well enough, but dropped a crucial catch as the tourists exploited some sloppy cricket to romp to an eight-wicket win, and ensure England’s summer ended on a needless low. Clanger rating: 6/10
Josh Hull, on his Test debut, drops a catch off Dhananjaya de Silva at the Oval. Sri Lanka went on to win by eight wickets
6. Falling asleep in Rawalpindi
In the decisive third Test in Pakistan in October, the hosts were struggling at 177 for seven in reply to England’s 267.
The jugular beckoned, but Ben Stokes went curiously defensive, allowing Saud Shakeel to push singles at will while tailenders Noman Ali and Sajid Khan had fun at the other end.
It later emerged that Stokes’s mind was, understandably, on other things: he had become too fixated on his own recovery from a hamstring injury, and his family home back in Castle Eden had been burgled.
Pakistan put on 167 for the last three wickets, and cruised to a series-clinching win, by which time Stokes had apologised to team-mates for his grumpiness. Clanger rating: 6/10
Noman Ali and Sajid Khan tortured England with the bat, then the ball, as they claimed 19 of the tourists’ 20 wickets in the third Test victory at Rawalpindi in October last year
7. Mustn’t upset India
England’s desire to stay on the right side of India meant an agreement by which centrally contracted ECB cricketers who had signed on the IPL’s dotted line would have to see out the tournament.
And so it was that Jacob Bethell, who had shone at No 3 in his first Test series over the winter, in New Zealand, continued to warm the bench for Royal Challengers Bengaluru while England took on Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge.
Needless to say, Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope each made a hundred, blocking Bethell’s return against India.
And at Edgbaston, Crawley and Pope managed 43 runs in four innings between them as England’s top order caved in. It all felt so self-inflicted. Clanger rating: 6/10
8. Bowling first at Edgbaston
Let’s be honest: England got away with the tactic at Headingley because India’s tail collapsed so feebly in both innings.
But at Edgbaston last week, Stokes pushed his luck, bowling once again against an Indian side who had learned their lesson and stiffened their tail.
It’s not unreasonable for England to say they didn’t get the conditions they were promised, but could they not have assessed the surface for themselves?
At least Brendon McCullum had the good grace to admit they got it wrong. But where does it leave them if they win the toss at Lord’s? Clanger rating: 7/10
England were blown away on a road of a pitch at Edgbaston, losing by a mammoth 336 runs
9. Sticking with Shoaib
Perhaps more than any other player, Shoaib Bashir encapsulates the Bazball ethos: picked in part on a hunch, he has been made to feel ‘10ft tall’, as per the dressing-room mantra, by a management team who believe his natural attributes of height and bounce will one day translate into a match-winning off-spinner.
And he has had his moments, not least against West Indies and Zimbabwe, both at Trent Bridge.
But in 11 of the 21 innings in which he has bowled more than 15 overs, he has conceded at least 100. Of spinners with at least 50 Test wickets, his economy rate of 3.80 is the joint-highest in the history of the game.
India are milking him. Australia could murder him. And all because he has potential, which could be years from fruition. Clanger rating: 6/10
India are milking Shoaib Bashir’s bowling and Australia could murder it Down Under this winter
Mulder and sullied
South Africa’s stand-in captain Wiaan Mulder will go down in history as the man who declared on himself with just 34 needed to break Brian Lara’s Test record of 400 not out against England in Antigua.
Mulder had 367 at lunch on the second day of the second Test against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo, but called it a day with the scoreboard reading 626 for five.
He later explained: ‘For someone of that stature to keep that record is pretty special. I think if I get the chance again, I would probably do the same thing.’
Excuse me? Zimbabwe are a full member of the ICC, this was a five-day Test match, and there were 11 sessions left to complete victory. (Sure enough, Zimbabwe were soon following on).
So why be so squeamish? Matthew Hayden wasn’t when he took advantage of Zimbabwe’s bowling to beat Lara’s 375 in 2003.
Garfield Sobers had no compunction in flaying a weakened Pakistan attack for 365 at Kingston in 1957-58. Records exist to be broken, and Mulder has just passed up his crack at eternity.
Wiaan Mulder somehow found an excuse not to break a world record for South Africa
Ashes arms race falling flat
Last week, this column looked at the struggles of Australia’s top order. And that was before the teenage opener Sam Konstas scored 25 and 0 in the second Test against West Indies in Grenada.
England fans, though, might have welcomed Cameron Green’s second-innings 52, as it may persuade Australia’s selectors to keep him at No 3 for the Ashes.
And yet England are in no position to titter, what with the continued inconsistency of Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope.
The pre-Ashes phoney war is beginning to feel like a reverse arms race.
Shakib’s warning for Sai
Surrey have signed Indian slow left-armer Sai Kishore for two championship matches as they look to win a fourth title on the bounce. These short-term arrangements don’t always work out.
Last summer, Shakib Al Hasan played one match for Surrey, ended up on the losing side at Taunton, and was then reported by the umpires for throwing. Here’s hoping Kishore enjoys better luck.
