After a decade of top-order batters struggling badly, the little and large combination have stylishly solved the problem
The thought crept up on me during the start of England’s ultimately unsuccessful run chase in Visakhapatnam: I hadn’t heard a certain joke in a while. You probably know it, the one that did the rounds for quite some time. That you could be anywhere in the world, switch on your phone and find that England were 20-odd for two with Joe Root striding out to the rescue.
The Bazball makeover has done many things, but one of the headline change-ups is the establishment of a fully functioning opening partnership. When Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley walked out in the final session to begin the road to 399, the overriding feeling wasn’t how many wickets England would lose in a tricky late passage, but rather how many runs they’d chop off the target before the close. Such a view was testament to the Test team’s clear identity but also down to the pair’s excellence so far.
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