2022: Run chases The change in style of play produced immediate results in the summer of 2022. The England Test match side were playing a three-match series against
New Zealand and a one-off Test against
India to conclude a previous series postponed by the
COVID-19 pandemic. The previous summer, India and New Zealand had competed in the
2021 ICC World Test Championship Final. However, England in the summer of 2022 won all four matches chasing a total in the fourth innings, three against New Zealand and one against India, with those fourth innings chases being 277, 299, 296 and 378 runs. They became the first side in Test history to chase three scores of 250-plus in back-to-back games against New Zealand, and the first England side to ever win four consecutive Test matches batting last. Stokes as captain upon winning the toss began routinely in the summer of 2022 choosing to chase, something which goes against the orthodoxy in Test cricket but is the orthodoxy in limited-overs cricket.
Fast scoring rates Since the inception of the style until June 2023, England averaged a
run rate of 4.65 per over. This is significantly higher than the next highest in Test match history – Australia under
Steve Waugh at 3.66. This has meant the team has bucked the trend of victorious sides of Test matches usually requiring 140 or more overs to win. On 1 December 2022, England reached a total of 506–4 at the end of first day's play in a Test match against
Pakistan. These runs came in 75 overs at a run rate of 6.75, an unprecedented rate record in Test cricket. Had England faced the full 90 overs of a day's play at that run rate they would have passed 600. The previous record for the most runs on day one of a match was 494 set by
Australia against
South Africa 112 years previously in 1910. This innings also included England's highest ever total in the first session of a Test (174),
Zak Crawley scoring the most runs in the first over of an innings ever by an England player (14), Crawley and
Ben Duckett scoring the fastest ever England century opening stand (83 balls), Crawley and Duckett scoring the fastest opening double-century partnership in Test cricket history (181 balls),
Harry Brook scoring England's third fastest century of all time (80 balls), and Crawley (86 balls) scoring the fastest ever by an England opener and the fifth fastest overall. The desire to score quickly has been noted to have had an impact on the batting of Stokes himself who on occasion was "one batsman who has, perhaps, taken things too far on occasion... and fallen cheaply." England batsmen have also demonstrated innovation when facing Test match bowlers, such as Joe Root playing reverse-ramp shots against pace bowling, and batting left-handed.
Declarations On 16 February 2023, fast scoring rates by the
top order allowed England to declare their innings on the first day of a
day/night Test match at the
Bay Oval in
Mount Maunganui on a
tour of New Zealand, when the evening conditions were perceived to be a better time to be bowling rather than batting as a side. It was the second-earliest declaration in the first innings of a match in the history of Test cricket, and the speed of the scoring rate by the England batsmen allowed the declaration to be made to suit the conditions with
Michael Atherton describing the "boldness" of the declaration as evidence of Stokes' "reputation as a captain unwilling to let the game stagnate or drift". Stokes declared in the opening innings of the
2023 Ashes series after just 78 overs of England's first innings, despite Joe Root being unbeaten on 118, in order to bowl at the Australian batsman for four overs on the first day. It was the earliest first-innings declaration in Ashes history. It was the fifth time Stokes had declared a first innings in his previous fourteen tests as captain. It moved him equal with former New Zealand captain
Stephen Fleming for the most declarations in test history before the 110th over of an innings, but Fleming had taken 80 matches to reach that mark, and Stokes fifteen. Australia went on to win the test by two wickets in the dying overs of the fifth day.
Seeking results A component of Bazball is said to be "confusionless cricket", and whilst "attacking all the time is the key, but not attacking blindly is the mantra" with it being "a meticulous approach of never letting the game die and always seeking results." Speaking after England chased a record run-chase in a Test in Nottingham in June 2022 against New Zealand at
Trent Bridge, including a period of 102 runs in nine overs hit by Stokes and
Jonny Bairstow, Stokes was quoted as saying "The message just was run into the fear of what the game was rather than stand still or back away from it...I'll say it quite simply: we were either winning this game or losing it. That was the mentality that we wanted all the batsmen coming in to have...It's obviously paid off. When you have the backing of the coach and captain, it rubs off on the players in a very positive way. So you're not fearing failure. You're just going out and doing what you want to do." Stokes was quoted as using 'positivity' and 'aggression' which would involve risking defeat if it provides a better chance of winning. An aggressive, high-risk high-reward style was noted with England's leading all-time wicket taker
James Anderson quoted as saying "We've got a captain and coach that don't want draws. We're not playing for draws." The desire to seek results to Test matches led to a Stokes declaration in
Rawalpindi against Pakistan that was seen as a risk and "about 50 runs shy of what experts felt would be the ideal score to have enough cushion", only to win by 74 runs after giving Pakistan the chance to win. They played less defensively, leading to former Australian cricketer and now commentator
Mark Waugh saying "Courageous, fearless positive mindset gets them a win in Rawalpindi on the most docile surface. I don't think any other team in world cricket would have rolled the dice like that."
Aggressive fields and bowling changes Former Australian captain
Ricky Ponting discussed the change brought about to the English Test team commenting on how McCullum had managed to "change the attitude of some of the English players to not be scared about getting out and to be fully committed to thinking about scoring runs and when you get the ball in your hand to be as aggressive as you can and set nice and aggressive fields." The England bowling unit under Stokes' captaincy has seen him encourage fast bowlers to bowl fuller, not to protect their bowling figures over moving the game forward, and to prioritise wickets over run protection at all times. This has not always been the convention in test match cricket. England
off-spin bowler
Jack Leach was quoted as saying "In teams I've played in, the way I've thought – a lot of the decisions are made around negativity...Stokes is going out the opposite way." On the tour of Pakistan in late 2022 Stokes' use of "wacky" fielding positions and bowling changes was said to have helped his side achieve a series victory. The "aggressive field settings and constant tinkering" led McCullum to say that Stokes "is determined not just to drive this team but cricket forward. He seems to have taken captaincy to a new level...What we see on the field pulling the strings...he's constantly active, making plays and always thinking about wickets and he's so consistent with his message that he doesn't care about runs. That's one thing...his general positivity is quite staggering." Tactics in the field included moving fielders constantly, changing bowlers to improve match-ups, and utilising unconventional fielding positions including the use of leg slips, three men in front of square, and a back-stop.
Nighthawk The Bazball era of English test cricket has seen the team at times eschew the traditional use of a
nightwatchman, in favour of a "nighthawk". Instead of promoting a lower-order batsmen late in a day to protect the top order by blocking, the lower-order batter is asked to 'swing for the fences' to score and disorient the opponents. During the English summer test matches of 2022 on occasion Stuart Broad would be padded up for the last few overs of the day in order that, if called upon, he could attempt a few late evening blows to accelerate the scoring and cheer the crowd. Broad told
Sky Sports that it was in England's first innings against New Zealand on his home ground of Trent Bridge in 2022 that McCullum suggested it to him, somewhat unexpectedly, "I went to make a coffee, in my flip flops, and Baz came up and said, 'you are in next, get your pads on. I think the crowd has gone a bit quiet, you are a local boy so try and hit your first ball for four and get them revved up again'." Broad, however, was never required in the role, and it was later on in the year that 18-year-old spin bowler
Rehan Ahmed first got to be nighthawk, promoted to bat at number three in the Test match in
Karachi against Pakistan on 19 December 2022. Broad would make his debut in the nighthawk role on 17 February 2023 in England's second innings in the first test in a series of two against New Zealand. He told
BBC Sport that he was lying on the physio's bed when Brendon McCullum walked through the door and said "Hawk, it's time...You're going in next." ==Results==