England’s batting during the Bazball era has often been described as cricket in fast-forward. Their bowling in this series, however, has been anything but.
Not helped by wickets that fulfilled only one half of Ben Stokes’s “fast and flat” brief at Edgbaston and Lord’s, England’s attack looked a shade polite whenever movement was not forthcoming, and Australia’s extra yard of pace was one of several factors to mark the world champions out as simply a better cricket team across two fine-margin Tests.
