Ashes: Australia exposes the frailties of Bazball tactic in emphatic fashion

A historic sporting rivalry’s latest chapter found closure at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday. The Ashes has a distinct allure even if some tussles never live up to the intense battle tag.

A case in point was the latest five-match episode that concluded Down Under, a one-way street that ended with host Australia retaining the urn 4-1. England’s Bazball tactic stood exposed as the batters stayed on the fifth gear even if a fatal crash seemed imminent.

Purists like Geoffrey Boycott fumed but Ben Stokes and his men, despite having a few moments and a solitary win at Melbourne, largely stuck to their old trope of living by the sword. The visitors bought into their own myth of being invincible and discovered that fragility was the inevitable truth.

Australia’s regular skipper Pat Cummins played just one Test, Josh Hazlewood none, spinner Nathan Lyon hobbled out, and it was left to the fantastic Mitchell Starc and persevering Scott Boland to keep pegging away. Yet, the host found a way even after a 132 in the first innings of the opening Test at Perth.

In Travis Head, Australia has found a battering but sensible ram atop the order. Forced to open as an alternative to an injured Usman Khawaja, Head found his mark. His 629 runs and Starc’s 31 wickets were series-defining efforts. That only the Adelaide and Sydney Tests went into the fifth day is also a testament to the rush-hour style of cricket that has wafted into sport’s longest format.

Within this template of miniscule runs and frenzied wickets, the lower-order batting solidity that Alex Carey and Starc offered, proved too steep a hurdle for England to cross. Joe Root finally hit Test centuries in Australia, and proved that class is permanent. Yet, those runs and the promise Jacob Bethell revealed through his 154 at Sydney, could not mask England’s inadequacies.

If in the 1980s, the Caribbean islands were the toughest zones to tour, in the modern era it is Australia. England learnt that the hard way but had no Plan B. Aggression devoid of intelligence is a mark of arrogance. In the past, Ian Botham uttered strong words and backed it with performance.

Cut to the present, Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum faltered. A candid appraisal is due at the Old Blighty. And for Australia, a transition is on with Khawaja retiring and Steve Smith in his final stretch.