Australia would be basking under the glory of winning World Test Championship (WTC), becoming the first team to claim ICC trophies in all three formats with a demolition job of India by 209 runs, and they will be aiming to take the confidence into their next marquee event of the year – The Ashes 2023 vs England, starting on Friday at Edgbaston.
But unlike India, who were grossly under-prepared for the WTC final, England are completely different outfit. In the last one year, they have turned a corner in the red-ball format, rewriting the definition of Test cricket. The cricketing world have named it ‘Bazball’, taking a cue from their head coach Brendon McCullum’s nickname. Though England don’t really believe in any of such terminologies but they do trust in their character with which they have changed the face of Test cricket.
The likes of India and New Zealand have had a taste of it last year and now, it’s Australia’s turn. There has been a tectonic shift in the English change room since the last Ashes Down Under and in 2023, England won’t let the urn go away so easily.
On the other hand, Australia are will eying to decode the much-hyped ‘Bazball’. After smashing a hundred against India on the opening day of the WTC final, vice-captain Steve Smith said he is keen to know this new style of playing red-ball game looks like.
“I said it initially when Bazball started that I’m intrigued to see how it goes against our bowlers. I’ve said that all along. They’ve obviously done well against some other attacks, but they haven’t come up against us yet. So, we’ll see. It’s obviously been exciting to watch. I must say I’ve enjoyed watching the way they’ve played and the way that I guess they’ve turned things around in the last 12 months or so. We’ll wait and see how it comes off against us,” Smith had said during the WTC Final.
A confident Australia will definitely go hard on their arch-rivals, given England’s recent success with the new style of playing the game. But assistant coach Paul Collingwood has different thoughts.
Replying to a Cricketnext query in a select media interaction, Collingwood said England won’t change their approach but also won’t take the foot off the pedal just because they are going to face the Aussies.
“Very similar to what we have been doing in the past years. Not just because it’s the Ashes, we are not going to approach it in any different way. The guys have had fun playing in this manner, they have enjoyed each other’s company be it on or off the field. It is just about stripping the pressure away from the players and playing like a group of friends. A group of best friends in the part, enjoying each other’s company. (chuckles)
“If you get that mentality, the value and skill that you bring to training, and take that into the match and have no consequences then you can get the best out of your ability. No way that they gonna take the foot off the pedal just because it’s against Australia.
“In fact, I know these guys, they’ll probably try to go a little bit harder!!”, Collingwood stated.
A bunch of best friends playing together sometimes also end up with an epic rivalry. Probably that’s why Collingwood chuckled a bit while speaking those words. But as far as the game is concerned, the new look England side also knows how to give it back. They did it smartly against India when Virat Kohli tried getting under Jonny Bairstow’s skin at Old Trafford last year.
So, the equation is simple – go hard and be prepared get back even harder.
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