The Ashes: A compelling clash of Test cricket styles

The more traditional Australian tortoise won the first round in the Ashes, but can the English hare stage a comeback?

- Sumit Chakraberty

In the famous Aesop's fable, a hare makes fun of a tortoise during a race, takes a mid-course nap, and ends up losing. The first Test of the ongoing Ashes series between England and Australia followed that script. But the bigger race is far from over, with the second Test beginning today. England is the hare with a new, all-action approach to Test cricket, and Australia is the proverbial tortoise, with the latter proving that slow and steady wins the race, or at least the first leg of the race.

When former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum took over as coach of England in June last year, he inherited a dismal legacy of 11 losses, 2 wins, and 5 draws in the previous 18 Tests. From there, in almost an exact reversal, England have won 11 Tests, lost 2, and had no draws till the Ashes began earlier this month.

England's ODI side had won the 2019 World Cup with fearless cricket, giving both batsmen and bowlers the licence to fail in attack. That's the style McCullum himself had adopted as a player and a captain. Now, as a coach, he wanted the England Test side to go for blitzkrieg like its ODI team.

In skipper Ben Stokes, he had a willing accomplice, and the two proceeded to set hoary Test truisms aside. For example, instead of seeing off the new ball, the openers would counterattack. And bowlers were to aim for wickets with attacking fields. "Bazball", as this attacking form of Test cricket is fondly called, had arrived.

From day one of the current series, this approach lived up to its billing. England won the toss and racked up 393/8 at 5 an over, an uncommon run rate on the first day of a Test, let alone a series. Then the hare decided to take a England nap. declared.