"Bazball is dead" - Sachin Tendulkar name-dropped as England legends brutally attack Ben Stokes & Co.
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After two consecutive losses in the Ashes, England have faced much of the fire from former cricketers. The criticism grew louder after England lost the second Test at the Gabba, and a former England cricketer stepped in to call 'Bazball' a dead tactic.
England have already lost two games in the Ashes on their tour to Australia. The Ben Stokes-led side have been thrashed twice by the Aussies, as the English players have failed to capitalize with both bat and ball.
Mitchell Starc, the left-arm speedster, has picked up 18 wickets in the two games of the Ashes, and he also played a significant hand with the bat. Australia won both the Tests by 8 wickets, and Starc was named the player of the match for both games.
“I’d be asking the ECB for a refund" - English legend's insulting attack on Ben Stokes led England
Ahead of the beginning of the Ashes, the likes of Michael Vaughan and Stuart Broad had claimed that this is the weakest Australian side in the history of the Ashes, and England would have a fair advantage over them for the first time on Aussie soil.
Though the loss at Gabba was not considered as brutal as in Perth, the reactions from former England captain Ian Botham insulted the England side. He also claimed that he would want to be paid to witness the game.
“I’d be asking the ECB for a refund because this team for me is not prepared. I don’t think the bowlers are fit enough or strong enough,” he added on Triple M Radio.
Jonathan Agnew delivers a cruel verdict on Bazball
Marcus Trescothick, the England batting coach, despite the loss, claimed that England would not abandon their aggressive template in the longest format of the game.
However, Jonathan Agnew claimed that the Bazball technique is 'dead,' and a glimmer of the old-fashioned type of play helped England to resist the Aussies for some time, when both Will Jacks and Ben Stokes briefly changed the course of the downfall in the second innings.
“I think Bazball is unsustainable,” Agnew said on BBC’s Ashes Debrief. “It did its job. First year, it picked up some broken players. Got them enjoying cricket again, winning games, and people loved watching it."
"It was good entertainment, but it’s unsustainable. You can’t play one-dimensional Test cricket, and it’s now at the crunch. I think Bazball is dead and we’re going to see something different next time," he added.
Drive after drive. Edge after edge. Catch after catch - Jonathan Agnew
In his column for the BBC, he said the England batters kept repeating the same attacking mistakes across two Tests. He had compared their form against the splendid innings from Sachin Tendulkar, since the England players lost wickets with the same shot.
“It is England’s batting that will cause the biggest recrimination. If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results, England has collectively lost their marbles and their wickets."
"Drive after drive. Edge after edge. Catch after catch. Sachin Tendulkar once made 241 in Sydney by deliberately resisting the cover drive. This lot must think they are better than the Little Master. The Bazball empire is now at risk of capitulation,” he concluded.
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England National Cricket Team Australia National Cricket Team England vs Australia Australia vs England ICC World Test Championship (WTC) The Ashes Ben Stokes Sachin TendulkarAbout the Author
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