As the 2023 Ashes moved to within two days of its scheduled close, there was no escaping the reality for Australia that it was happening again. That feeling of being slapped around the chops, too dazed to get the thread of what to do next. England with the bat running the game in their own way, setting the terms that Australia had to respond to. This, above all, has been the idea behind Bazball: not all about hitting sixes or bowling bouncers, but making opponents react rather than act.
It was there on the first day of the series at Edgbaston, when England made 393 in audacious style before declaring within sight of stumps, but the eight wickets that Australia took that day made it feel like the visitors had just about kept control. It was there on the final day at Lord’s as Ben Stokes hit six after six, but that time felt like Australia had enough of a cushion to withstand a big hundred, and so it proved.
