Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players
Every team we’ve faced have doubted our approach: Paul Collingwood
Collingwood, now England’s assistant coach, says the hosts won’t ditch their ‘Bazball’ method of ultra-aggressive batting in the Ashes against Australia
Over the past year, England’s Test cricketers have been daring and dauntless. With the heavily tattooed captain-coach combine of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum working in tandem, the players have been encouraged to express themselves, abandon fear and caution. Can this aggressive approach, dubbed Bazball, work against Australia in the Ashes? Never mind England winning 11 of their last 13 Tests, they are coming up against a unit that has won 10 and lost just two of the last 15 Ashes Tests.
Australia are also freshly minted world Test champions, brimming with confidence from a 209-run win over India at The Oval last week.
“Yeah, I think this will be our biggest test (under Stokes and McCullum),” England assistant coach Paul Collingwood said in an interview organised by Sony Sports on Tuesday ahead of the first Test starting in Edgbaston, Birmingham on Friday.
“We are coming up against the old rival. The Ashes is always seen as the biggest test, alongside playing India in India. This is what Test cricket is all about. You want to play against the best. They have deservedly won the World Test Championship. We are very much looking forward to taking them on in our own backyard.”
Though Collingwood and the England players are mindful of Australia’s potency, they didn’t bother watching much of the WTC final to glean further knowledge of their opponents. They were instead on a team-building trip, laying emphasis on sticking with their engaging brand of cricket.
“Our trip was very relaxed. Obviously, we kept up with the scores, but we don’t really focus on the opposition too much. We like to make sure that we are playing in a style or manner that is true to us. That’s what the focus is on. This brave, extravagant, fun, exciting way that we are trying to play the game is the most important thing,” said the 47-year-old, a middle-order batter and exceptional fielder who played for England in 68 Tests, 197 ODIs and 36 T20Is.
As expected of an Ashes series, a bit of banter and gentle needling has been part of the build-up. His prediction of a 5-0 whitewash by Australia aside, Glenn McGrath believes Bazball won’t bear fruit against Australia’s pace attack of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Scott Boland. South Africa and India may have believed the same when they toured England last year.
“Every team we have come up against has doubted whether we can have that approach against their bowling attack. It’s fun for us. It may be successful. It may not be successful. But the overall vision of the team is to make Test cricket more exciting. We are certainly going to be trying. What makes sport so exciting is the uncertainty about what's going to happen. We are confident we can do it, but who knows? If it doesn’t work, people say we failed. Maybe not. We are trying to push the boundaries of what can be achieved in Test cricket,” said Collingwood.
What if England lose the first couple of Ashes Tests though? Will the commitment to this fearless approach not ebb away? Collingwood points to the team’s comeback against South Africa at home last year as evidence of unflinching trust in their method. They were shot out for 165 and 149 in an innings defeat at Lord’s but bounced back with thumping wins in the next two Tests.
“In the first year, it’s not always gone according to plan. The way the players and the staff responded (to the loss against SA) is to be very consistent emotionally,” the former England T20 captain recollected. “It’s not always going to work, but you almost want to go harder. That’s what the white-ball team did. There’s a very consistent message from us to keep the game plan going and to keep entertaining.”
Regardless of which team lifts the urn at the end of the Ashes, England’s approach has emboldened others to try and replicate the style of play. India skipper Rohit Sharma, for instance, has time and again espoused the need for a more proactive batting approach from his team.
Collingwood believes the key to walking the talk is clarity in communication from the leadership group.
“Don’t change your ways if those losses come along,” he said. “You are going to have bumps along the way, but from a leadership point of view, having consistent messaging and security in your position is important. Players need to have real security in selection. That’s one of the key things.”
