Former England opener and recent International Cricket Council (ICC) Hall of Famer Alastair Cook expressed his admiration for the Three Lions’ highly-attacking and positive ‘Bazball’ brand of cricket under Test captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, saying that he has not seen a team pushing as many boundaries as the current England side. Cook travelled to the UAE for the announcement of his induction into the ICC Hall of Fame, where he and his family also watched the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Final between New Zealand and South Africa, which the former won.
Speaking to ICC in an interview, Cook said that the game has certainly made a big jump in regards to what is possible in Tests.
“I think the jump happened in one day cricket first, probably. The fundamental change, certainly from the English point of view, is when Eoin Morgan took the side forward in 2015. And obviously, the Ben Stokes era has changed the mentality of what was possible,” said Cook.
A recent example of England’s new approach came in that first Test against Pakistan, when they scored 823/7 in their first innings, with Harry Brook’s 317 making him the second-fastest triple centurion in history, bringing up his milestone off just 310 balls.
For Cook, it is the fact that England has so many players who play in an aggressive fashion that separates them as unusual. But he did urge fans to remember that these individual feats are not all new, and that there have been plenty of fast-scoring players in the history of the game, including the holder of the fastest triple-century, Virender Sehwag. who reached the milestone in just 278 balls against South Africa back in 2008 at Chennai. He feels that now, more and more teams are playing more aggressively in red-ball cricket.
“We should not forget there were some past players who were also belligerent run-scorers as well,” Cook said.
“I think Harry Brook joined (Virender) Sehwag with his 300, and Sehwag’s didn’t come off too many balls either (278). I just think I have never seen a team push the boundaries quite as much as this England team have done.”
“There have obviously been great sides in the past who would score quickly, but not quite as quickly as this side seemed able and willing to do.”
“I am all for embracing it, and that is why I am saying comparing generations and comparing different times of cricket is very hard to do. But I do think we are seeing more players willing to put the bowlers under more pressure in red-ball cricket. I think ultimately, it is about runs scored and the end product,” he concluded.
Cook is joined in the ICC Hall of Fame by fellow new inductees Neetu David and AB de Villiers.
With the series level at 1-1, the final Test of the England-Pakistan series will start at Rawalpindi from Thursday.
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