'No plan survives first contact with the enemy' - Edwards on Bazball and The Ashes
22.03.26, 09:00 Updated 23.03.26, 09:09 9 Minute Read
Paul Edwards
Let us begin with two shots, each of them played by an England batsman to the opening ball of a day’s play in the same Ashes Test match. Taken together, they seem to me to encapsulate the strategy that has come to be known as Bazball.
In 2023, Zak Crawley cover-drove Pat Cummins’ first delivery of the series for four. The ball was over-pitched and just wide enough of the off stump to allow Crawley to lean into one of his favourite strokes. In the Edgbaston press box, journalists uttered a collective gasp of anticipation.
That boundary was the briefest of manifestos for the way England were going to approach Ashes Tests under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes. There was to be no respect for convention, no regard for the old orthodoxy that 240 for three represented a decent return on the first day of a five-day game. By the close on that first evening in 2023, Australia were 14 without loss in reply to England’s 393 for eight declared.
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