2nd Test: Clash between ‘Bazball’ and South African seamers sets up intriguing showdown | Cricket News – Times of India
MANCHESTER: Despite suffering an innings defeat in the opening match, England do not plan to deviate from their new attacking approach when they host South Africa in the second Test at Old Trafford from Thursday.
England will be hoping the toss and conditions go their way after being on the backfoot from the start of the first Test at Lord’s and eventually capitulating inside three days.
They were undone by an impressive South African attack with four seamers rolling over the English batting order and spinner Keshav Maharaj taking a couple of wickets at the top of the innings to boot.
But both England captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum insist they should continue to attack the bowling, casting aside caution and looking to take the game to the bowlers in the new approach dubbed ‘Bazball’.
It has already provided riveting watching, and winning results, as England successfully chased down imposing targets to beat New Zealand and India in recent months. However, they met their match against the South African attack, where Kagiso Rabada stood out with support from Marcus Jansen, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje.
“I guess one of the messages we will be talking about is did we go hard enough with our approach? Could we maybe go a little harder and try turn some pressure back on the opposition as well?” McCullum said after the last Test.
It sets up the potential of a brilliant contest between bat and ball with South Africa heavily reliant on their seam attack, as the tourists look to clinch the series and strengthen their chances of playing in next year’s World Test Championship final.
England have problem at the top of the order although opener Zak Crawley is likely to have another stay of execution and be included.
Their real match winning potential comes from the middle order of Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Stokes, who were all out cheaply in last week’s first Test.
“Taking the positives from defeat is the worst saying in sport, but from a players’ point of view what we must take from our first defeat of the summer is that if we are committing to this enjoyable style of play, we have to be 100% in,” England bowler Stuart Broad said at the weekend.
“If you just poke around, it doesn’t work.”
England will be hoping the toss and conditions go their way after being on the backfoot from the start of the first Test at Lord’s and eventually capitulating inside three days.
They were undone by an impressive South African attack with four seamers rolling over the English batting order and spinner Keshav Maharaj taking a couple of wickets at the top of the innings to boot.
But both England captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum insist they should continue to attack the bowling, casting aside caution and looking to take the game to the bowlers in the new approach dubbed ‘Bazball’.
It has already provided riveting watching, and winning results, as England successfully chased down imposing targets to beat New Zealand and India in recent months. However, they met their match against the South African attack, where Kagiso Rabada stood out with support from Marcus Jansen, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje.
“I guess one of the messages we will be talking about is did we go hard enough with our approach? Could we maybe go a little harder and try turn some pressure back on the opposition as well?” McCullum said after the last Test.
It sets up the potential of a brilliant contest between bat and ball with South Africa heavily reliant on their seam attack, as the tourists look to clinch the series and strengthen their chances of playing in next year’s World Test Championship final.
England have problem at the top of the order although opener Zak Crawley is likely to have another stay of execution and be included.
Their real match winning potential comes from the middle order of Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Stokes, who were all out cheaply in last week’s first Test.
“Taking the positives from defeat is the worst saying in sport, but from a players’ point of view what we must take from our first defeat of the summer is that if we are committing to this enjoyable style of play, we have to be 100% in,” England bowler Stuart Broad said at the weekend.
“If you just poke around, it doesn’t work.”
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