Ben Stokes has led an England red-ball revolution (Picture: Getty)
Listen to Ben Stokes and you will know that ‘Bazball’ was conceived as Test cricket’s saviour first and England’s red-ball rejuvenator second.
Except that neither goal can fully be realised until the conclusion of the current Ashes series, which begins at Edgbaston on Friday.
Australia, the new world Test champions, against England, the new peoples’ champions, is a sumptuous prospect which should even excite neutrals, especially on English soil where the teams tend to be more evenly matched.
With Test cricket under threat as never before it is also Bazball’s greatest reckoning with the stakes being high to produce a humdinger of a contest to match that of 2005, still the best Test series I’ve seen – Ashes or otherwise.
Such pressure is what this England team eat for breakfast, or has ever since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes joined forces as coach and captain.
Their approach has been to remove doubt and jeopardy from players’ minds and so far, with 11 wins from their last 13 Tests, expectations have been exceeded. But they are up against Australia, masters at getting players to doubt themselves especially English ones, which is why they have held the Ashes for 32 of the last 50 years.
Harry Brook has been a revelation in England’s middle order (Picture: Getty)
Despite that, Australia have not won a Test series here for 22 years (you can draw and still hold the Ashes), though they begin as favourites this time following their recent win over India in the final of the World Test Championship.
Played at the Oval, it brought a typically bold performance from Pat Cummins’ team brimming with big-brush orthodoxy. They never get too funky, the Aussies, but they do have a piranha’s nose for an ailing foe and India were efficiently dispatched.
Their bowlers, in particular the current crop of pacemen under Cummins, are impressive, especially the relentless way they pressure batters. If all are fit a selection dilemma presents itself, which is unusual as they usually know their minds before a series starts.
With Cummins and off-spinner Nathan Lyon both shoo-ins, it leaves two from Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Scott Boland. Which pair gets the final nod depends on how credible a threat they believe Bazball to be.
Starc has the x-factor with an ability to conjure magic from his left-arm swing, while his follow-through can create rough for Lyon in tantalising areas. Yet his slinging action can also leak runs, something his captain might want to avoid against supercharged batters looking to gorge on anything vaguely loose.
When fit, Hazlewood is a paragon of fast bowling, being tall, hostile and accurate if a little predictable.
But is he as accurate as Boland, who looks like he might out-Jimmy James Anderson when it comes to hitting a handkerchief placed on a good length?
Scott Boland was impressive against India in the World Test Championship final (Picture: Getty)
Boland looked the pick of Australia’s bowlers against India. By subtle dint of his wrist, he seems able to nip the ball back into right-handers or make it hold its initial line to beat the edge; chicanery performed while probing an immaculate length.
It is as if he is forever bowling from the Pavilion End at Lord’s, the famous slope there providing the same hazard to batsmen with some balls darting down the incline and others staying up. Either way he looks a handful.
With the impressive 6ft 7in all-rounder Cameron Green to help out, Australia’s bowlers represent a stern challenge to England’s freewheeling batsmen, especially if they maintain the brilliant slip and gully catching that was a feature against India last week.
England’s bold new approach means more chances are likely to be presented, though how much it will hurt them depends on how many are taken at first offering.
Ben Duckett and Co will face a new level of bowling (Picture: AP)
Watching how Harry Brook and Ben Duckett cope with a level of bowling they have yet to experience, under pressure not yet endured, despite Bazball’s claim to banish such things, will be fascinating, as will the general culture clash that pits Australia’s seasoned campaigners against England’s newly empowered optimists. Generally, conditions here reward seam and swing bowlers who probe a full length around off-stump but I expect to see more use of the bouncer.
That is certainly how India eventually cramped Travis Head, Australia’s very own Bazballer who made 163, and it is also how New Zealand caused England’s aggressive batting to malfunction during the winter and cause a rare defeat.
In essence, two battles will be waged in this five-match Ashes series. England’s orthodox bowlers against Australia’s mainly orthodox but forceful batting line-up, with Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne at the vanguard, and the home team’s ultra-aggressive batters against Australia’s fast, accurate bowlers with Lyon’s spin as counterpoint.
Something must give and it will be both fascinating and thrilling to see what that might be.
The Pringle prediction
THERE won’t be any draws unless a monsoon arrives which is unlikely, so five conclusions with England to shade it 3-2.
Moeen Ali is back in the Test fold for England (Picture: Getty)
Key to the Ashes can be turned by contrasting spin duo
Spinners rarely get top billing these days but the two likely to be used in the Ashes – Nathan Lyon for Australia and Moeen Ali for England – are two very different bowlers despite both purveying off-breaks.
For one, Moeen had to be persuaded out of Test retirement following injury to England’s usual spinner Jack Leach. That might prove a benefit in that he will have nothing to lose, or it could prove a burden, that his heart is not really in it.
Before we discover which it is he needs to make the starting XI, something more likely if Ben Stokes can manage 12 overs a day given his knee troubles.
Nathan Lyon has been a thorn in England’s side before (Picture: Getty)
Lyon, who plays his 121st Test, has always given the impression of being as tough as Dennis Lillee’s bowling boots, though the reality will be tested as never before when England’s batting continue their smash and grab. With both men set to be targeted for boundaries, the technical differences between them could be vital in who comes off best.
Moeen is a big side-spinner of the ball but given the order is for hard, true pitches, he may have to rely on the bowlers’ foot holes to get any purchase – something of a lottery given the playing surface doesn’t always cut up as expected.
Lyon, by contrast, gets lots of overspin, which makes the ball dip in flight and then bounce more than expected. This offers two means of miscalculation by the batsmen (three if pitches turn), to Moeen’s one. It also means Lyon (left) is more likely to induce a mishit when batsmen try to force the issue, as they surely will.
How each is used and how each fares as both wicket-taker
and rest cure for seamers, could end up being the difference that decides the destination of the Ashes.
It’s the new world Test champions against the new peoples’ champions.
