England lose first series under ‘Bazball’
The England Men’s test cricket team have lost their first series since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes took the reins, at the hands of India. Despite going one-nil up in the series, the tourists ultimately succumbed to a four-one loss. Cricket expert, Aaron Viles gave his review.
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00:00 You've got to give so much credit to India, in particular their bowlers Jasput Bumrah,
00:06 absolutely phenomenal as always, Kordi Biadav as well, spinning England into an absolute
00:12 web in particular in that last test in Dharamshala and obviously Ashwin and Jadeja. First and
00:17 foremost full congratulations to India, played the better cricket, thoroughly deserved.
00:22 England won the first test thanks to an innings from Oli Pope.
00:26 It was a sensational performance wasn't it? Absolutely superb from England to go out
00:32 there to dictate the tempo. You mention Oli Pope, in my opinion that is his best knock
00:37 in an England shirt by some distance, you know, given the conditions, given the magnitude
00:42 of this series as well. It was a great start, it's just a shame that the next two tests
00:48 didn't quite go as planned.
00:50 The series was then drawn level thanks to the efforts of one Indian bowler.
00:54 He's Jasput Bumrah, he's one of the greatest cricketers on the planet, regardless of the
00:59 format. He hits 90 plus mile an hour, he tails the ball back into right handers, he generates
01:04 reverse swing and his Yorker is one of the finest sights in world cricket. So if you
01:10 were to talk about a catalyst in that second test, a game changer, somebody who brought
01:15 India back into this series and galvanised them in that second test, it has to be Jasput
01:21 Bumrah.
01:22 England innings collapses then became England's downfall.
01:26 To be honest, that was up until the fifth test, the most one-sided performance in the
01:30 entire series, wasn't it? England ultimately losing that by 434 runs in Radical, it was
01:37 a very, very one-sided affair to say the least. And again, Dan, it was that second innings.
01:42 England were in the game up until that point, but as soon as that collapse took place, it
01:48 was curtains, wasn't it? And you could argue that's probably where the series as a whole
01:52 also began to shift firmly in India's favour.
01:56 The result of the series was confirmed by the fourth test.
02:00 Yet again, it was that second innings, wasn't it? And that was the killer for England in
02:04 particular, given the way in which Shoaib Bashir had bowled as well in that first innings.
02:08 He is one of the finds of this series from an English perspective. I thought he was absolutely
02:13 magnificent in his maiden test series in a three-line shirt, but it's just that second
02:19 innings, wasn't it? Killed all momentum, killed any hope of winning the game.
02:24 Looking ahead to two home series in the summer, what should be considered by Stokes and McCullum?
02:30 So I wouldn't exactly change the system, but I would bring in some young talent, right?
02:36 So for this series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka, for example, in the summer,
02:41 you've got the likes of Atkinson, you've got the likes of Matt Potts, Josh Tong, Shoaib
02:45 Bashir, right? Rian Ahmed's another one who could come in. You've got the likes of Harry
02:49 Brooke and Will Jacks who have been outstanding. It's definitely a massive opportunity to bring
02:54 in this next crop of the next generation of English test cricketers.