The lead-up to an Ashes series is always an exercise in illusion. All the chatter, the speculation, the minor antagonism, coming together in a tower of meringue; impressive bulk and little substance, ready to vanish if left in the rain. This time around there was another ingredient, with the anticipation of England’s new approach to Test cricket, and how Australia would handle it. When the action finally got under way at Edgbaston, Australia coped just fine.
Through the last year under Brendon McCullum, England have rocked and rolled New Zealand, India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Ireland, attacking with bat and ball. For the Ashes, though, their commitment to the style wavered slightly. Where triumph in Pakistan used young attacking spinners no matter their qualifications, the Ashes had Ben Stokes, the captain, bring Moeen Ali out of retirement for one last job. And on winning the Edgbaston toss, Stokes chose to bat, where his outrageous recent wins have come from fourth-innings chases.
Still, the day started as per England’s fondest Bazball hopes: Zak Crawley lacing shots through cover rather than edging to slip, six runs an over after the first three. It also started as few Ashes contests have done, with three slips and a deep backward point.
The option wasn’t just defensive though. Pat Cummins, the Australia captain, wanted some fielders back to reduce England’s boundary options, making them force the pace by other means. Turning to off-spinner Nathan Lyon in the 10th over was an attacking move, even if three boundary riders on the leg side made it look otherwise.
With the field back, it was as though Australia had broadened the scope of their own game to encompass England’s entirely, an amoebic absorption under the microscope. Runs came easily one at a time into the gaps, but that isn’t the game that England like to play. That speed of scoring meant that the total had not got out of control by the time the fifth wicket fell. Ben Duckett early, Crawley at 124 for three before lunch, a quick fall for Stokes making it 176 for five.
This points to the other part of the Bazball plan that didn’t click. Stokes had asked the ground staff for fast and flat, and Edgbaston was duly shorn like a new marine. But with a muddy brown colour and dull character, it wasn’t a batting belter; it was more like a subcontinental flat surface with occasional variation.
That allowed Lyon to do long and invaluable work, getting one to stay low to trap Ollie Pope in front, another to bounce more and deflect over Harry Brook on to his stumps, and letting the fast bowlers rotate through one end. Scott Boland channelled his years of gnosis communing with the MCG pitch, extracting life now and then from this one as he has at home. Josh Hazlewood justified his recall with accuracy. Cameron Green was used sparingly and took a late wicket with pace.
Only when Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root prospered in union did it begin to feel like England were on top – and selling a Root-Bairstow partnership as the exciting new thing in English cricket is like saying you’ve invented the toasted cheese sandwich. It’s a delightful thing, but can’t quite claim the breaking of conceptual ground. While Australia stayed patient despite some near misses, Bairstow did not, nor Moeen to follow, both stumped off Lyon miles down. When Bairstow spun towards Alex Carey, it wasn’t so much to try sliding his bat back as to wave goodbye.
In the end, it was Root, batting through the innings for his first Ashes hundred since 2015. While he did play a couple of reverse scoops off the quicks for six that Jack Hobbs probably wasn’t known to chance, Root wasn’t exactly Bazball. He was Joe Root, boosted by liberation from captaincy and the permissiveness of the McCullum era, able to express his class.
That was the part that Australia couldn’t contain: the player with superb balance, enduring stamina and the patience to build an innings. The problem for England is that Steve Smith is capable of the same, and nobody will cut him short on 118 not out, as Root was. Of course anything could happen on Saturday, including an Australian collapse of the sort that Edgbaston has seen before. But after one day of a Test, one can only deal in balance of probabilities.
In the end, the surprise declaration was the only truly Bazball moment that Stokes could inject into the day, using the part of the game under control. It could be characterised as brave or as reckless, and probably that assessment would change depending whether it worked.
In this case it didn’t, with David Warner and Usman Khawaja batting through their mini-session unscathed. They will resume on Saturday with a day of good weather ahead. Dynamism and controlling the flow of the match are well and good. On this pitch though, however it came about, keeping England to 393 would have the Australians well pleased.
