22 February 2024 , 17:25
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Mark Ramprakash has questioned whether England’s Bazball method may be encouraging “fundamentally unserious” players.
England were thrashed by 434 runs in the third Test against India after a shocking batting collapse. Ben Stokes ’ side slipped to 2-1 down in the five-match series, which continues on Friday when the fourth Test gets underway in Ranchi.
The visitors failed to build on Ben Duckett’s brilliant innings of 153, with India running through the line-up after Joe Root reverse-scooped Jasprit Bumrah to slip in the first innings. Having been set a highly improbable 557 runs to win, England put up very little defence to be skittled for just 122.
Ramprakash played 52 Tests for England as a batter and previously worked as the team’s batting coach. While he sees some benefits to the ultra-aggressive style of play decreed by Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum, he is concerned it might be going too far.
“Does Joe Root reflect on his first-innings dismissal, reverse-ramping the ball straight to slip? Because if the only goal is entertainment then that is absolutely on-brand and they don’t need to put themselves through any recrimination, any learning, any honesty,” Ramprakash wrote in a column for The Guardian.
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“Sometimes I wonder if there is something fundamentally unserious about the cricketers we are producing. Many county academies are pushing power hitting. They want young players to have a strike rate of more than 100 even when the pitch and match situation are not necessarily conducive to that.”
Ramprakash went on to compare the upbringings of India’s young batting star Yashasvi Jaiswal, who endured hardship, to that of private school products Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope. He hopes that they will rein themselves in in Ranchi and mix the Bazball method with a little more caution.
Ben Duckett embodies the ultra-aggressive batting style of England (PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP via Getty Images)HAVE YOUR SAY! Do you agree with Mark Ramprakash? Comment below.
“England are one down with two to play, have just endured a humiliating defeat and they know that on paper the bowling attacks are a complete mismatch,” he wrote. “They have played a lot of fun cricket, but sometimes they need to play smart cricket – the kind at which Stokes on his best days has shown he is so gifted.”
England have tweaked their bowling line-up by replacing Mark Wood and Rehan Ahmed with Ollie Robinson and Shoaib Bashir for the fourth Test. Stokes has been bowling in the nets and could bowl for the first time in a game since undergoing surgery on his knee.
Stokes has won 14 of his 21 Tests as captain, with the Rajkot defeat just his sixth. He is unlikely to be too concerned by the sniping from the likes of Ramprakash. Asked whether he was surprised by the reaction to the loss, he said: "No, it's sport, innit. You get plaudits when it goes well and a bit of s*** when it doesn't. It's part of it. I've been around long enough to know that, but we crack on."