Former England great and ICC Hall of Famer Alastair Cook showered praise on the Three Lions’ highly-attacking ‘Bazball’ approach which they adopted under coach Brendon McCullum and said 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 Women’s T20 World Cup Final between New Zealand and South Africa.
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,” Cook said.
A great example of England’s aggressive approach was seen in the first Test against Pakistan in Multan where the Three Lions ended up posting 823 runs in an innings. England batter Harry Brook scored a magnificent triple-century in the match and brought up the milestone in just 310 balls.
Cook was impressed with 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 scorer of the fastest triple-century, Virender Sehwag.
“We should not forget there were some past players who were also belligerent run-scorers as well. 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,” Cook said.
“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,” Cook concluded.
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