WELCOME to seven absorbing weeks of cowboys and Indians.
As the trigger-happy, gun-slingers of Ben Stokes’ England face world cricket’s great financial powerhouse in a five-Test feast, the reputation of the Bazball revolution will be firmly on the line.
GettyBen Stokes will captain England against India[/caption] GettyJasprit Bumrah is one of India’s key players in the bowling attack[/caption] GettyThe reputation of ‘Bazball’ is at stake[/caption]The fun begins today at Headingley — the scene of English cricketing miracles from Ian Botham to Stokes — and winds its way up and down the country until the climax at The Oval in early August.
And over the next seven months — including the upcoming Ashes series Down Under — it will be death-or-glory for the most attacking team in Test cricket history.
Bazball’s legacy is at stake. Will it go down on the annals as a gloriously joyful folly or the ultimate smash hit?
Can this thrilling ‘bish-bosh, get out of Dodge’ approach prevail in back-to-back series against such mighty opposition?
Three years have passed since Stokes, England’s swashbuckling all-rounder, seized the reins of a failing team and, along with coach Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum, transformed them into the great daredevils of the game.
There has never been an elite team in any sport quite like this England side.
Their high-minded mission has been to save the five-day game by putting entertainment first and results second. And they have meant it.
If a five-day match is too long for the modern attention span, then get it done in three.
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Score at close to five runs per over — far quicker than any other team — attack in the field, eliminate the draw, empty the bars and thrill the punters.
And while Test cricket still packs stadiums in England, it is under threat in other parts of the globe — including in India, where the Twenty20 fireworks of the IPL reign supreme.
AlamyEngland face Australia in the Ashes down under this winter[/caption] AlamyAussie batter Steve Smith picked up a finger injury against South Africa[/caption]Yet results still matter to England and there is no bigger challenge than series against the other two mightiest cricketing nations, India and Australia.
There has been intense scepticism in India about England’s attempts to rocket-fuel the Test game — especially since a 4-1 drubbing for Stokes’ men on the sub-continent at the beginning of last year.
There, Bazball is often seen as an over-hyped, over-blown, over-simplified attempt at reinventing a 150-year-old wheel.
And yet England have won 23 of 36 Tests under the current regime, drawing only once — due to a two-day Mancunian monsoon which ultimately denied them The Ashes in 2023.
Before Stokes and McCullum took power — and we mean power — England were a moribund outfit who had won only ONCE in 17 Tests.
Of course, there was life before Bazball and England versus India has provided plenty of glory days — from Graham Gooch’s 333 at Lord’s in 1990 to Sir Alastair Cook’s century on his final appearance at The Oval in 2018.
India have not won a series in England since 2007 — and even that was in a three-Test contest.
It is 24 years since England were beaten at home by any opposition over five Tests or longer.
England team vs India
Here is the England squad for the first Test against India...
Ben Duckett Harry Brook Joe Root Zak Crawley Ben Stokes (C) Chris Woakes Jacob Bethell Jamie Overton Jamie Smith (Wkt) Ollie Pope Brydon Carse Josh Tongue Sam Cook Shoaib Bashir GettyArcher played his last England Test match in February 2021[/caption]The cast list for this series is far from perfect — Virat Kohli’s retirement ends a golden line of world-class Indian Test batsmen, stretching back half a century from Sunil Gavaskar and Mohammad Azharuddin to Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
Who will carry on that torch? New captain Shubman Gill averages just 35 in Test cricket, although his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal blasted back-to-back double centuries against England last year.
England cannot possibly win back The Ashes on Australian soil without at least two of their three gun bowlers — Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Gus Atkinson — yet none will be fit for Headingley.
Archer’s lightning bursts have not been seen in first-class cricket in four years, yet the 30-year-old is threatening a comeback for the Second Test at Edgbaston — an occasion which might even sate the thirsts of prolific drinkers in the Hollies Stand.
While express pace is a must-have on Aussie wickets, in seaming English conditions, the nagging fast-medium accuracy of Chris Woakes is lethal and he will lead the attack.
India, though, possess Jasprit Bumrah, the best fast bowler in the world by a country mile — a man who can test England’s premier batsmen, Joe Root, Harry Brook and Ben Duckett, like no other man currently playing.
Bumrah will need a massive series if the tourists are to prevail.England, so strong at home, should get their hands on the new Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy, named after two modern greats.
But if they are to truly go down as one of the greatest England sides, they would then need to back it up by succeeding Down Under.
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