Ashes 2023: England’s latest ploy to maximise ‘Bazball’ impact pushing boundaries of gamesmanship

An ultra-aggressive England has won 10 of its 12 Tests since Brendon McCallum. And it is pushing for an extra advantage over the Aussies.

England have discussed deploying short boundaries in the Ashes in an attempt to maximise the impact of their ultra-attacking “Bazball” strategy and disrupt Australia’s bowling plans.

The thinking is that the smaller the playing area the greater chances of success against an Australian attack that prides itself on control and had a lot of success “bowling dry” in the Ashes in England in 2019.

There is also a theory that the Australians do not really believe that England’s batsmen can maintain their sparkling form since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over the Test team 12 months ago.

In that time, England have scored at an unprecedented rate of 4.76 runs per over, winning ten of their 12 Tests. They have also hit 86 sixes in those 12 Tests, compared with Australia’s modest tally of 32 sixes in 11 Tests.

The matter of boundary sizes for the Ashes was discussed during the recent series in New Zealand.

England have already begun issuing instructions about the conditions they want for the five Tests against Australia - which start on June 16 - with head groundsmen being told to prepare “fast, flat wickets”.

Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes are cooking up an Ashes ambush. Picture: Matthew Lewis/Getty

Earlier this month, Stokes said: “We want to go out there and score quickly. It brings their [Australia’s] guys in. If they’ve got fast wickets to bowl on then they’ll be happy with that but we’ll just keep sticking to what we do.”

The ICC’s Test playing condition 19.1.3 states that “no boundary shall be longer than 90 yards (82 metres), and no boundary should be shorter than 65 yards (59 metres) from the centre of the pitch to be used.”

The boundaries must be between three and ten yards away from the first solid object, such as advertising boards, to allow the players a safe run-off area, but this still permits a fair amount of flexibility on the part of the hosts.

The host board must make clear to the umpires before the start of the game where the boundary ropes will be placed.

England’s major venues tend to be significantly smaller than Australia’s arenas, where many of the boundaries are close to the maximum. Harry Brook, one of England’s best hitters, was several times caught on the boundary edge at the recent T20 World Cup in Australia with shots that would have been six on English grounds.

This difference in size largely explains why England score much faster in home Ashes Tests than they do away. Since 2001, they have scored at 3.43 runs per over at home and 3.00 in Australia.

The choice of Edgbaston for the first Test is perfect for “Bazball boundaries”, because in recent times it has been the English ground with the ropes closest to the pitch. With Trent Bridge (where a world-record 249 boundaries were hit in last year’s Test against New Zealand) not on the roster this summer, Edgbaston is the fastest scoring of the five Ashes venues, slightly ahead of Headingley, host of the pivotal third Test.

England used short boundaries in the epic 2005 Ashes to capitalise on the attacking power of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, nowhere more so than at Edgbaston where England plundered 407 on the first day, hitting 54 fours and ten sixes.

The former Australia Test captain Ian Chappell denounced at the time the “ridiculously short boundaries”. When Pietersen scored 158 on the final day of the series at the Oval to secure the draw that helped England to regain the Ashes, he targeted short leg-side boundaries to strike a then-Ashes record of seven sixes.

Ben Stokes. Picture: Hagen Hopkins/Getty

This time promises a fascinating clash of styles: England’s batsmen looking to play shots against bowlers whose modus operandi is building pressure through controlling the run rate. Pat Cummins, the Australia captain, suggested in a recent interview with Fox Sports that his side would not adjust their approach in light of the way England play.

“Over the last 18 months, the way we have gone about it has been really successful, so you don’t want to lose sight of that,” he said.

“That’s most important - worry about what we do well, rather than looking at the opposition.”

However, George Bailey, who chairs Australia’s selection panel, has tacitly acknowledged that they may need to revise their plans mid-series by naming a squad only up to the end of the second Test, by which point they will know “what the brand of cricket looks like”.

As things stand, Australia appear intent on doubling down on their tactics of 2019.