England’s historic 3 0 whitewash in a test series in pakistan

England’s historic 3 0 whitewash in a test series in pakistan

England played a flamboyant game. Next up will be the Ashes where Australia awaits. Can England pull off even that?

Barring West Indies in their heyday, rarely has a non-subcontinental team won in the Subcontinent playing as aggressively as England did to achieve a historic 3-0 whitewash in a Test series in Pakistan. Hitherto, the Bazball effect, termed after their coach Brendon McCullum’s philosophy of aggressive play, had shown in their batting; in Pakistan, it reflected in their bowling. With Pakistan’s inexperienced bowling (their main fast bowlers were all injured) and the batting-friendly pitches, England’s flamboyant batting wasn’t a surprise. But their bowling on these pitches was something else.

Constantly innovative, always striving for possible chances, their charismatic captain Ben Stokes re-aligned their field at angles not always explored by other teams in modern-day cricket. An umbrella field close on the leg side, usually Pakistani batsmen’s strong areas, stood waiting for an aerial flick. The bowling was imaginative, more than a couple of wickets fell to leg-side catches by the wicketkeepers; a dismissal which seemed unfortunate in the past (from the batsmen’s perspective) now seemed a conscious effort from the fielding team. If the batsmen showed patience, then the seamers formed a ring on the off side, consistently inviting a drive. And then in the final game, they unleashed the young legspinner Rehan Ahmed to spin the game England’s way.

In the past, even Australia under Steve Waugh couldn’t achieve this effect. In fact, in the failed attempt in 2011, in what was called their last frontier, Waugh’s men’s learning was that they were too attacking with their bowling. And so when they returned next time under Adam Gilchrist, their bowlers shifted to a well-outside off line, moving away from the stumps, in the hope that their smartly defensive approach would do the trick. It did. Seldom, though, has a team worked so aggressively in the Subcontinent as England have. This was Ben Stokes and McCullum’s first series in this region and the world had waited to watch how “Bazball” would hold up. Next up will be the Ashes where Australia awaits. Can England pull off even that?