Two and a half years into England’s bazball experiment and its effectiveness cannot be doubted. What many presumed to be a fad has pulled English Test cricket out of one of its lowest periods.
England had one win in 17 matches prior to Stokes and McCullum taking over, which has been followed by a run of 20 wins in 32 matches since. While England are not yet world beaters, the transformation has been remarkable considering the starting point and the tools they had at their disposal.
Stokes and McCullum took their own no fear attitude towards cricket and placed it on the whole team. Creating solid test players out of those considered weak links in the England team beforehand.
Additions Harry Brook, who did not feature at all prior to Stokes and McCullum, and Ben Duckett, who only played in four tests, have been significant contributors to the team’s form. Brook averages 56.7 under the new regime and Duckett 44.9.
However, the production from the players who featured at least 30 times in the preceding era and have played at least 30 times in the new one is the standout point.
Batting averages and strike-rates alike have soared amongst Joe Root, Johnny Bairstow, Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley.
Interestingly however, the only player who has experienced a dip in output is the man who kickstarted it all, Ben Stokes.
All the players in the data set including Stokes have experienced a great increase in strike-rate. Strike-rate is measured by the amount of runs a player scores on average per 100 balls.
This has been a common increase amongst all England batters since June 2022. Batters have been encouraged to score runs quickly, with the aim of winning test matches swiftly whilst entertaining simultaneously. Without fear of being criticised by those holding senior positions in the team if they get out trying to score runs.
This play style, which has taken influence from the style Stokes has used his whole career, seems to have benefited everyone apart from Stokes himself.
One possible explanation is that Stokes was already playing with this confidence and win at all costs attitudes. So, he did not experience the same outlook and playstyle change as the other players. However, his SR has increased by 9.1, suggesting that he is now trying to score quicker. Compare this to Joe Root also has a similar increase in SR at 13.3. Root has seen his batting average surge by 9.2 in the later period while Stokes has seen his decrease by 2.7.
Stokes type of dismissals have not altered significantly either, so the dip in average is not due to being caught more often by overuse of aggressive shots.
Another interesting comparison is that with Johnny Bairstow, a player with some similarities in play style to Stokes. Both are well renowned for their ability to score quickly with an aggressive approach, having both gone for large sums in the IPL auction in recent years, a tournament where big hitting in prioritised.
However, the effect on Bairstow compared to Stokes has been stark. Bairstow’s SR has increased by a mammoth 33.3 whilst his batting average has increased by 11.5. They both shared similar strike rates and batting averages prior to the change.
A core aim of any person holding a senior position in a sports team is to unlock talent from individuals that may not have been displaying it before. The managers, captains and coaches that can do this are the most sough after in world sport as it is a unique talent that not all possess. While Stokes and McCullum have been brilliant at doing this for the rest of the England top-order, they have not yet been able to do this for Stokes himself. Given his immense talent this is undoubtedly surprising.
With Stokes and McCullum setting their sights on the tough task an Ashes win in Australia next winter; one wonders if an improvement in form from Stokes could be the key. England are still yet to beat India or Australia in a series under the two Kiwis and an side with a inform Ben Stokes would give England a much better chance at their first win down under since 2011.