Ashes 2023: Bazball an excuse for England to play reckless cricket with no accountability, says Doherty

Leeds, July 8 (IANS) Former Australia left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty firmly believes the Bazball style of play by England in Tests is an excuse for them to play reckless cricket without any sort of accountability.

In the ongoing five-match Ashes series, England’s Bazball style of play has given fans tons of drama but has not translated into victories. Currently, Australia are leading the series 2-0 with the third Test currently happening at Leeds being evenly poised.

“I went into this Ashes series looking forward to BazBall and this exciting brand of cricket that England play and it’s turned out to be a bit of a flop, I reckon. I think it’s just an excuse for them to go out and do whatever they want with no accountability and just be reckless.”

“England have at times played some really good cricket and then just do something awfully stupid and then just say, ‘ah well, that’s all just part of it’. It looks pretty clear cut that Australia will come home with the Ashes.”

“At the end of this series they (England) are going to have to sit down and think about whether they want to play exciting cricket or whether they want to win,” said Doherty to SEN Radio.

Doherty went on to say that barring England skipper Ben Stokes, the hosts; have been generally reckless in the ongoing Ashes, citing the example of all-rounder Moeen Ali in the Leeds Test.

“At the moment during this Test, they’ve got themselves in a reasonable position… but outside Ben Stokes, they’ve generally just been reckless and thrown the game back in favour of Australia. Moeen Ali’s dismissal last night, it’s just unbelievable.”

“They found themselves in a bit of strife and Ali and Stokes tried to wrestle the momentum back, Pat Cummins bounces him, he gets a top edge and it fell 20 metres short of a fielder, Australia the very next ball, puts a fielder right where the ball landed and he does the exact same thing and gets caught and walks off like, ‘it’s just the way we play’. In theory, it’s not bad… but there’s a reason why Test cricket is played the way it’s played,” he added.

Doherty also called the outrage over Jonny Bairstow’s stumping dismissal by Alex Carey in the Lord’s Test as a by-product of Bazball approach. “It’s just another excuse for the English to call Australia cheats…it’s like a mob mentality. The cricket crowd over there is turning into a football crowd with the chants and the abuse.”

“It’s just this unaccountable mindset that they’ve got, the rules don’t apply to us anymore so we’ll do and say whatever we feel like and then we’ll be the upholders of the spirit of cricket and we’ll tell other people what they should be doing. They’re in a world of their own at the minute and this Bazball phenomenon has gone to their heads, no doubt.”

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