5 best 'Bazball' knocks from English batters so far
Bazball has truly taken over international cricket over the last year. While it has divided opinion, you can't argue the results it has brought England, who have been among the best Test sides in the world since its inception.
Under head coach Brendon Mccullum and captain Ben Stokes, England have played positive, aggressive cricket, forcing a result out of every match, with results going their way on multiple occasions.
We've seen some truly fearless cricket and some superb knocks from their batters, with Zak Crawley's 189 against Australia in the ongoing Ashes series an excellent example.
A devastating innings comes to an end...
What an incredible knock from Zak Crawley 👏
#EnglandCricket | #Ashes pic.twitter.com/iyPrQrltlh
On that note, let's look at five of the best 'Bazball' knocks from English batters.
#5 Joe Root - 142 (173) vs India, Edgbaston, July 2022
Played at a slower strike rate, but very much a Bazball innings in terms of intent, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow's fourth-wicket partnership in the postponed 5th Test of the series against India at Edgbaston showed that Bazball could work even against the strongest of oppositions.
In one of England's best Test wins in recent times, it was all India for the first three days of the match as the visitors scored 416 (courtesy of a Bazball-esque 146 off 111 from Rishabh Pant) and bowled England out for 284.
With a sizeable first-innings lead, India were in the driver's seat. However, a better bowling performance from England saw India dismissed for 245, with the hosts set a steep target of 378 to win.
The England openers walked out to the middle for the 4th innings sometime after lunch on Day 4 and got the side off to a terrific start before Jasprit Bumrah triggered a collapse that saw them lose three wickets for only two runs.
With the match precariously poised at 109/3, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow banded together to take England home.
Whatever the Indian bowlers tried, they simply couldn't break through, and the deteriorating nature of the wicket only encouraged Root and Bairstow to freely play their shots. Root finished with a 173-ball 142, scoring 19 boundaries and one six while Bairstow added to his first innings hundred with a 145-ball 114 in this one.
Joe Root's innings came against a top-quality bowling attack in a successful 4th innings chase and will remain one of the best knocks in the Bazball era.
#4 Harry Brook - 153 (116) vs Pakistan, Rawalpindi, December 2022
The advent of Harry Brook as one of the next superstars of world cricket has been fascinating to watch as he has been one of the torchbearers of Bazball. His knock from the 1st Test of England's tour of Pakistan in Rawalpindi epitomizes the cricketing philosophy in a match that pretty much defined Bazball.
On an absolute road of a surface, England opted to bat first and scored runs at a lightning-fast pace. Each of the top three scored hundreds, and when Harry Brook walked to the crease, England were 286/3. He joined forces with Ollie Pope to make life miserable for the Pakistan bowlers on a pitch with absolutely nothing going for it.
He eventually got out after making 153 off only 116 balls as England scored 657 runs at a run rate of 6.50. It was their rapid pace of scoring runs that made a result possible, with England winning the match by 74 runs in the end.
#3 Jonny Bairstow - 162 (157) vs New Zealand, Leeds, June 2022
Jonny Bairstow has benefited the most from England's Bazball approach and his numbers during this period have been phenomenal. In the 3rd Test of a three-match series against New Zealand, he produced another gem of an innings to save England.
Having already sealed the series 2-0, England wanted to close the series out comprehensively but New Zealand had other ideas. After Daryl Mitchell produced another hundred to take England to a decent total of 329, the Kiwi bowlers simply laid into England's batting lineup.
The hosts were first reduced to 21/4 and later 55/6, with Jonny Bairstow and Jamie Overton at the crease. The duo decided to go down fighting and ended up building a splendid counter-attacking partnership worth 241 runs.
While Overton fell short of a hundred by an agonizing margin of three runs, Bairstow soldiered on with Stuart Broad. He was eventually dismissed after scoring 162 runs off only 157 balls, with 24 boundaries to his name.
Bairstow followed it up with a blistering 44-ball 71 in the second innings as England chased down nearly 300 runs in the 4th innings without breaking a sweat.
#2 Harry Brook - 186 (176) vs New Zealand, Wellington, February 2023
One of the best Bazball knocks fittingly came in easily one of the best Test matches in the last couple of years, with New Zealand battling a follow-on to register a comeback win by one run.
While it ended up coming in a losing effort, Harry Brook continued his splendid run of form with an outstanding knock against New Zealand at Basin Reserve, Wellington.
With Jonny Bairstow out of this series with an injury, England needed someone to step up and cover for the keeper-batter's aggression and Brook did so with aplomb.
In the 2nd Test of England's tour of New Zealand, the visitors were put into bat, and while Tim Southee and Matt Henry made the new ball talk, Joe Root and Harry Brook countered for England.
Joining forces at 21/3, the duo put on a 302-run stand, effectively batting NZ out of the game, with Brook going all guns blazing, scoring at a strike rate above 100. He was eventually dismissed for 186.
While New Zealand faltered in their first innings, they recovered to claw their way back into the game and register one of the best-ever Test wins.
#1 Jonny Bairstow - 136 (92) vs New Zealand, Nottingham, June 2022
New Zealand was the first victim of England's new style of play, and Jonny Bairstow's stellar 92-ball 136 was a knock that truly encapsulates what Bazball is all about.
The 2nd Test of New Zealand's three-match Tour of England took place on a good batting surface at Nottingham. A Darryl Mitchell 190 put NZ in the driver's seat but England countered with hundreds from Ollie Pope and Joe Root.
Mitchell impressed in the second innings as well as New Zealand set a decent target of 299 for England to chase down in the fourth innings, a tricky proposition. England got off to a rocky start and lost Joe Root with the score at 56/3 when Bairstow walked in and went all guns blazing.
Bairstow carted the Kiwi bowlers around the park and had skipper Ben Stokes for company, and reached his hundred off just 77 balls. The carnage continued until he reached 136 and by the time he was dismissed, the game was all but done.
Jonny Bairstow absolutely blew away the NZ bowlers with his aggression and intent, and they had absolutely no answers to his whirlwind knock. It's arguably the best one in the Bazball era.