England trade Bazball for prudent cricket

Kolkata: England's cricket team is shifting tactics, playing conservatively against India, seeking to regain form after a heavy defeat at Edgbaston.

Kolkata: All of a sudden, England aren’t keen on entertaining anymore. Looks like they are trying to stay alive in the series. Worse, they are actually trying to play the waiting game against India.

England's captain Ben Stokes and Joe Root return to pavilion after the end of play on the first day of the third Test at Lord’s. (PTI)

Once again the coin fell in their favour but Ben Stokes wanted to bat, and for no particularly compelling reason really. Bat England did, but minus the swagger that made their batting watchable in the last four years. No six hit the entire day, run rate plummeting to a measly three runs per over, this was the kind of drudgery Brendon McCullum is known to be outrightly dismissive of. Times change though. And England could argue that they weren’t chasing after all.

It’s a conundrum for those who have been closely following England cricket for a while now. Batting long was not known to be their forte in the last four years. For a side that has toppled scores of 378 and 371 in a day to sacrifice all their bluster must be humbling.

Joe Root trying to be inside every ball instead of playing those audacious scoops is straight out of the pre-Bazball era. Harry Brook being tentative on his front foot, playing and missing till he was finally bowled was too Test-like. Did he miss the memo? Or is this the result of a change of heart so abrupt, so sweeping that England are struggling to cope with it collectively? Letting go is hard, especially when what you are letting go of is the most exhilarating ride you’ve ever had. But here England are suddenly trying to tune back to Test cricket after giving it a mighty jolt.

The timing of it isn’t lost on anyone. Edgbaston was a record defeat. But one bad loss doesn’t make England a bad team. They could contend the pitch hasn’t been conducive to their style of batting. Which might ring true, considering Zak Crawley was skipping down the pitch to meet the ball as early as in the first hour.

To be objective, swing and not speed has always worked at Lord’s, as Nitish Reddy must have realised. Swing without cognizable speed however makes it too lopsided a contest. Also, the pitch at Lord’s normally quickens up on the second and third day. What was stopping Stokes from chase again?

This feels premeditated, and perhaps not without good reason. Remember England’s tour of India last year, where the tourists won the first Test in Hyderabad before India bounced back in Visakhapatnam? Third Test, on the flattest of a flat pitch at Rajkot, England came out swinging in the same vein that had made them so watchable. Ben Duckett got 153 off 151 balls but they still fell 126 runs short of India’s first innings total of 445. By the fourth day, England were swept up for 122, allowing India to canter to a 434-run win and run away with the break point of the series.

You could say England are at a similar juncture, on almost an identical pitch, albeit at home where they have not lost a series since McCullum and Stokes joined hands in April, 2022. For all we know, alarm bells may have rung inside England’s dressing room.

India’s history at Lord’s can’t be ignored as well. Win in 2014, then again in 2021—nowhere has India been more consistently successful in England than at Lord’s in the recent past. The decision to keep Kuldeep Yadav on the bench might come in for criticism again, but this Indian spin attack is still good enough to give England the jitters. Ollie Pope would know, edging Ravindra Jadeja first ball after tea. With Shoaib Bashir, England probably aren’t going to fare any better than Edgbaston. And unless the pitch picks up pace, Jofra Archer could well turn out to be a dud move.

You weigh all this up, and it’s already difficult to avoid the assumption that England may have been rattled into making this change.

And there’s more to consider. Like the Ashes in Australia later this year. That makes it two tough series in less than eight months. England could still finish as a trailblazing side by January. But between now and then are eight Tests to be won or lost, since England don’t do draws well.

At least for momentum’s sake, England won’t want to land in Australia as a side outwitted by India at home. Which might explain this change of heart. Or you could call it as it is—a last resort.