The England head coach explains the reasoning behind the difficult decision which effectively forced several players into retirement
Having launched Bazball with 11 wins from their first 13 Tests, with New Zealand, India, South Africa, Pakistan and Ireland all vanquished, the team hit a rut, losing six of the next 10 matches.hit a brick wall as their soft underbelly was exposed in key moments against the best teams in the world.there were just four survivors from the first Test of the Bazball era against New Zealand at Lord’s in the summer of 2022 – Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Stokes.
“What we’ve seen is a team which has bounced back with a bit more of a harder feel to it. I think we’re a stronger team now than we may have been in the past.” It means their run rate for the series was 4.73 per over – the third-highest for any team in a series of three or matches in Test history. Unsurprisingly the top two are also from the Bazballers – 4.74 runs per over during last summer’s Ashes and 5.5 runs per over against Pakistan in the winter of 2022.
“But what pleased me most was that the dressing room was calm. A couple of years ago I’m not sure it would have been in that situation. The calmer you are the clearer you are to make decisions and commit to them.”
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