More than 500 runs in just 75 overs on day one of a Test match against Pakistan outside of home. Just imagine that. It was an incredible assault by the English batsmen. For the non-believers that England have not turned a corner, there is the proof. It was led by none other than the embattled Zak Crawley. It is onething to bat so aggressively at home but it is a completely different thing to bat the same way away from home.
Ever since Brendan McCullum and Ben Stokes formed a partnership to take English cricket forward, the brand of cricket that they have encouraged must be seen to be believed. Positivity oozing from the top to the bottom. Infact, the captain has veered to the extent of recklessness and has often lost his wicket when he had the opposition at his mercy. The English were supposed to be sick. They were supposed to field a different eleven from the one that was chosen 48 hours before the Test began. They were all down with stomach bug and pretty weak to take the spot. Infact, the game itself was likely to be postponed by a day. However, come match day, all those things were things of the past.
Return to Pakistan
England returned to Pakistan after 17 years. It was an occasion that was to be savoured. Savour they did by sending the scoreboard into sort of a tizzy. Pakistan’s bowlers were not just unable to take wickets but they were even able to pull together a string of maiden overs. This is something that has rarely been seen. Maiden overs are the norm in Test cricket but here was England now allowing any of that. Infact, Pakistan bowled just one maiden over in 75 overs. It showed the complete domination of England, the inexperience of the bowlers notwithstanding. Could Shaheen Shah Afridi stemmed the flow of runs or could he have picked up wickets by the bucketful? Going by the evidence, that was highly unlikely to happen. No matter the reputation of the bowler, the England batsmen were always going to bat in a certain way. Bazball effect and all that.
None of the batsmen slogged. It was controlled positive strokeplay with some inventive sweeps including orthodox and reverse. The sheer audacity was incredible to watch. Granted the pitch had nothing for the bowlers, be it the spinners or the fast bowlers and that the boundaries were short. The Pakistan bowlers were inexperienced but none of that can take away the breathtaking batting from the England batsmen. None of the Pakistan bowlers were economical. All of them gave away runs at more than 5 an over. An economy rate that is quite unheard of in Test cricket. Harry Brook must have thought that this is a T20 game because his strike rate was quite the norm in T20. More than 130. Other centurions, Crawley, Pope and Duckett scored at almost a run a ball hundred.
Ben Stokes must be a little bit more circumspect
The only serious worry for England will be the fact that Stokes is selling himself short. He scored at a strike rate of more than 200 but yet, he fell for a score below 50. He was a chance to get a big one which went abegging. Ofcourse, he doesn’t play the game for such records but when the conditions are right and there is enough time to force a result, perhaps he could have batted a bit less flamboyant cricket.
If other countries do follow England’s template, the game will become exciting all over again. Perhaps, it will help in reducing the duration of Test cricket to 4 days. In this day and age, not many have the time to sit through 5 days of Test cricket when a T20 itself is long enough.
On the way, England broke quite a few records.
4th fastest 150 by Harry Brooks. He took only 115 deliveries.
27 runs in one over by Brooks again is the most runs scored by an England batsman in Tests.
235 runs given away by Zahid is the most by a bowler on debut.
Most runs scored in one day of Test cricket.
Fastest century by an England opener. Zak Crawley got to his hundred in just 86 deliveries.
Wrapping up an incredible assault by the English batsmen
England have always been at the forefront of game changing innovation and the latest is not any different. They were instrumental in introducing ODI cricket alongwith Australia. It was England who first came up with T20 cricket before IPL tookover completely. Then the blistering attack in ODI and T20 cricket and now, they are aiming to transform Test cricket.
Other blogs about England