5 greats who did 'Bazball' in Tests before Ben Duckett made his Test debut
England opener Ben Duckett played a brilliant Bazball-style knock in the first innings of the third Test against India in Rajkot. He hammered 153 off only 151 balls as the visitors posted 319 in response to India’s 445. The excellent knock featured 23 fours and two sixes. The left-hander was looking good for a lot more when he played a nothing shot to be dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav.
Duckett (29) made his Test debut against Bangladesh in Chattogram in October 2016. He scored a half-century in his second match in Mirpur, but found himself out of the reckoning after twin failures in the Visakhapatnam Test against India in November the same year. Duckett’s next Test was against Pakistan in Rawalpindi in December 2022. Sticking to England’s Bazball philosophy, he clobbered 107 off 110 balls and hasn’t looked back since.
In 18 Tests, the England opener has hammered 1,409 runs at an average of 44.03 and a strike rate of 86.76, with three hundreds. In the wake of Duckett’s impressive performances, we look at five greats who did 'Bazball' in red-ball cricket before his Test debut.
#1 Brendon McCullum
Brendon McCullum, England’s Test coach and the man after whom the term Bazball was coined, deserves to feature on the list. McCullum played 101 Tests and scored 6,453 runs at an average of 38.64 and a strike rate of 64.60.
Some of his Test hundreds have come at an extremely rapid pace. He famously scored 145 off 79 balls in the final Test against Australia in Christchurch in 2016. The former Kiwi skipper also hammered 195 off 134 balls against Sri Lanka in Christchurch in December 2014 and 202 off 188 balls versus Pakistan in Sharjah in November 2014.
When he was in form, McCullum could make a mockery of bowling attacks, making field placements redundant. No wonder Bazball is called what it is.
#2 Virender Sehwag
An easy choice on the list. Virender Sehwag redefined the image of a Test opener with his incredible batting skills. The former India batter played 104 Tests in which he notched up 8,586 runs at an average of 49.34 and a strike rate of 82.23, with 23 hundreds.
Rather incredibly, he clobbered 319 off only 304 balls against South Africa in Chennai in March 2008. He was dismissed after crossing his triple hundred with a strike rate of 104.93! Sehwag blasted 293 off only 253 balls against Sri Lanka in Mumbai in December 2009, an innings that featured 40 fours and seven sixes.
Even when he scored 309 against Pakistan in Multan, he had a strike rate of 82.40. In a number of innings where he crossed three figures, including his 254 against Pakistan in Lahore in January 2006, Sehwag had a strike rate of over 100.
#3 Adam Gilchrist
Like Sehwag, Aussie legend Adam Gilchrist is also an automatic choice on the list. With the aggressive batting in the Australian lower middle-order, Gilchrist played a number of game-changing knocks in Test cricket. The former keeper-batter played 96 Tests, smashing 5,570 runs at an average of 47.60 and a strike rate of 81.95, with 17 hundreds.
The left-hander clobbered 204* off only 213 balls against South Africa in Johannesburg in February 2002. Gilchrist also scored 162 off 146 balls against New Zealand in Wellington in March 2005 and 152 off 143 deliveries in the 2001 Ashes Test in Birmingham.
In a number of other games, the Aussie legend made match-winning contributions and, on most occasions, he scored at better than a run-a-ball. Gilchrist was a true Bazballer much before the Ben Stokes-McCullum era began.
#4 David Warner
David Warner, who only recently retired from Test cricket, was also known for his flamboyant ways with the willow in the red-ball format. The 37-year-old ended his Test career with 8,786 runs in 112 matches at an average of 44.59 and a strike rate of 70.19, with 26 tons.
He played a number of Bazball-style knocks before Duckett made his Test debut. Warner smashed 253 off 286 balls against New Zealand in Perth in November 2015. He also hit 122* off only 103 balls against West Indies in Sydney in January 2016 and 180 off 159 versus India in Perth in January 2012.
Warner may not have been among the most consistent openers in Test cricket. But when it came to being destructive, there were few who were more dangerous than him in the format.
#5 Kapil Dev
Perhaps an unexpected choice on the list. However, it must be noted here that Kapil Dev scored 5,248 in 131 Tests at a strike rate of 79.33. In the era that he played, the pace of scoring was nothing short of exceptional.
Kapil scored eight hundreds in his Test career and most of them came at a very impressive strike rate. His 163 against Sri Lanka in December 1986 came off 165 balls. Kapil also scored 126 off 124 deliveries against the West Indies in Delhi in January 1979 and clubbed 116 off 98 balls against England in Kanpur in February 1982.
Known more for his legendary bowling exploits, Kapil’s performances with the willow are often underrated. It would be fair to say that he was among the first ‘Bazballers’ in Test cricket.