The Bazball wave of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum’s England Test team has swept world cricket right now.
Since Stokes and McCullum joined hands in mid-2022, no team in the world has won more than the 13 Test matches that England have won. England are yet to lose a Test series under Stokes and McCullum, though that is likely to be changed in the upcoming 5-Test series in India.
That England have been successful while recolonizing Test cricket with their aggressive batting style, and looking for aggressive options while bowling, is a huge positive for the Three Lions after their horrific struggles in the last year of Joe Root’s captaincy.
The biggest test of Bazball so far was the home Ashes 2023 series, which ended in a draw. It was a very exciting series. Australia went 2-0 up and looked set to win their first Test series in England since 2001. However, the hosts bounced back to level the series 2-1. There was a good chance that it would have been 3-2 to England but the final day of the fourth Test in Manchester got washed out with England needing only five more wickets to bowl Australia out in the second innings with the visitors still trailing by 61 runs.
The next Ashes series will be played in Australia in 2025/26. England have not won a Test series in Australia since 2010/11. What’s even more embarrassing for them is that they have not won a single Test match in Australia since then, losing 5-0, 40, and 4-0 on their last three trips.
Australia would look to counter Bazball in the Ashes 2025/26. And these three players could be their biggest match-winners:
Pat Cummins
3 Australian Cricketers Who Can Counter BazBall In Ashes 2025/26 – The Australian Test captain Pat Cummins had a wonderful 2023 year. He has been in sensational bowling form since his return to Test cricket in 2017. With 258 Test wickets under his belt at a terrific average of 22, Cummins will challenge the legacies of Glenn McGrath and Dennis Lillee.
Against England, Cummins has taken 91 wickets in only 19 Test matches. With the England batters looking to attack the bowlers, Cummins would have to step up for his side again and again, which the Aussies can bank on their skipper to do.
Josh Hazlewood
Hazlewood is someone who often goes under the radar in the presence of Starc and Cummins. But the lanky pacer who has 249 Test wickets at an average of 25 and an economy of 2.8 is just as good. Not only Hazlewood is just as good a wicket-taker as Cummins or Starc, but he is also a run-holder. Against the England Bazballers, Hazlewood’s metronomic abilities will be needed the most by Australia in the Ashes 2025/26.
Steve Smith
Steve Smith is set to enter in a new chapter in his Test career as an opener. After immense success from numbers 3 to 5, Smith has decided to open in Test cricket, so as to not have to be left waiting for his chance to bat at number 4.
What this gives Smith is the opportunity to score freely against the new balls with a vacant cover and huge spaces on the legside as fielders are mostly in the slips cordon and point and gully at the start of an innings. And Smith loves toying with England – he averages 55 against them with 12 centuries to his name in Ashes cricket. Expect Steve Smith to go after whatever plans Ben Stokes, McCullum, and their bowlers come up with.
