- July 8, 2025
It’s one thing to play bold, fearless cricket. It’s another to repeatedly find your top four heading back to the pavilion before fans have even found their seats. England’s Test batting, once lauded for its aggressive “Bazball” revolution, is suddenly looking… well, a bit lost. Against India, the top order has been exposed—technically, mentally, and tactically. And it’s not just a one-off. When former pacer Steve Harmison says he’s worried, maybe we all should be.
Session Fatigue or System Flaw?
Let’s start with the elephant in the room: England’s bowlers spent 150 overs under the sun before even picking up a bat. That’s a marathon, not a cricket innings. So yes, fatigue was always going to be a factor when they walked out to bat after India’s first-innings mountain.
But as Harmison points out, this wasn’t just about tired legs. It was about the inability to adapt. England’s top order—Crawley, Duckett, Pope—walked into the classic trap: fresh pacers, a swinging new ball, and that late-session sting India planned perfectly. Two innings, same script. Opposition bowlers sniffing blood. And England’s top four folding for a total of just 96 runs across both innings? That’s not “Bazball”—that’s just bad.
Technique on Trial
Zak Crawley’s shot selections, anybody? Ben Duckett? Looked like India had done a whole PhD on him. Ollie Pope? Got steered that hard backward in the first innings he might still be looking for the ball. It is one thing to be aggressive and another to be reckless.
Harmison didn’t hold back, and rightly so. While Duckett has had a few sparkling knocks in the past, India’s bowlers seemed to have him on remote control—feeding him just enough width, then tucking him up when it mattered. Crawley’s expansive drives without moving his feet were once again on display, while Pope’s technique was picked apart both by sharp seam movement and pressure.
The problem? These aren’t new flaws. These are patterns. And good teams, like India, have done their homework. If England doesn’t respond with some technical tweaks and temperament training, the story’s going to repeat itself every time they’re under pressure.
Time for a Hard Reset—Or At Least a Pause Button
England has taken a fresh approach to Test cricket in the last year since Brendon McCullum became coach. It has been exciting, it has been bold, and it has produced some of the most entertaining matches we have seen in years. However, when it goes wrong, and it is going wrong more often, accountability is important.
Is it time to reconsider the ‘all gas, no brakes’ approach in a leadership capacity? Maybe. Because while the middle or lower order has done it for them more than once, you can’t expect the tail to keep wagging if it only cuts off the head. India’s new-ball bowling unit, led by a ruthless opening pair, capitalized on every microscopic gap in footwork, technique, and mentality. They were doing more than bowling well – they were following a plan.
And that’s the difference right now: England’s batting seems to have one gear, while teams like India are playing chess. England’s top-order troubles are no longer just blips. They’re becoming a pattern, and patterns in Test cricket get punished hard—especially against smart, disciplined attacks like India’s.
Bazball has been a revolution, yes. But every revolution needs evolution. Maybe it’s time to balance the bravado with better basics. So, here’s the question: can England’s top four evolve before another collapse costs them a series—or is the fearlessness becoming a flaw?
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