IND vs ENG 2022 | Trying to rewrite how Test cricket is played in England, asserts Ben Stokes
Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root starred in Edgbaston for England versus India.
|ICC
After levelling the five-match series 2-2 with a seven-wicket win over India on July 5, England captain Ben Stokes has remarked they are trying to pull off an aggressive brand of Test cricket at home for the first time. Under Stokes, England have now chased 250+ scores four successive times.
England levelled the five-match series 2-2 with an extraordinary seven-wicket win at Edgbaston in the fifth postponed Test match on Tuesday. They saw off the record-breaking target of 378 inside the first session on Day 5, thanks to an outstanding unbeaten 254-run stand between Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, which came off 365 balls. While Root remained unbeaten on 142 off 173 balls, Bairstow hit 114 not out off 145 balls.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, England's newly-appointed Test captain Ben Stokes credited the magnificent duo to pull off something special. The English all-rounder also lauded their openers -- Alex Lees and Zak Crawley -- to set the tone for the run chase. Notably, Lees and Crawley shared a 107-run opening-wicket stand on Day 4.
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Find Out"When the lads play like this, it makes my job easier. When you have clarity like we have in the dressing room, it makes chasing totals like this easier. 378 would have been scary five weeks ago, but now it's all good. Jonny and Root will get all the credit, but the precedent was set up by the way the openers played against Bumrah and Shami with the new ball," Stokes said at the post-match presentation.
Further, speaking about 'Bazball', which has been trending ever since Brendon McCullum took charge as England's Test team head coach, Stokes added all they are trying to do is play an aggressive brand of cricket, and they will be continuing playing like this in future.
"It is all about taking wickets and taking ten wickets. There are no complaints. Sometimes, teams will be better than us, but no one will be braver than us, a quote by Jack Leach. We are trying to rewrite how Test cricket is played in England. All our plans from the last four-five weeks is what we want to take ahead," he added.
Prior to India Test, Stokes-led England had chased 250+ scores in three successive games against reigning World Champions New Zealand to complete a whitewash.
