It is time for a change of pace ( pun intended) and look at what occurred in Test cricket. We saw England V India and Australia play Pakistan, the windies and then the Kiwis.
Firstly let us go to India. A lot of people are saying 'bazball' has failed totally. Unfortunately they have not understood what 'bazball' is. It is getting your runs quickly so the team has plenty of time to get 20 wickets.
There were only two tests when the poms took 20 wickets. the 1st in which they won and the 4th which they should have. This happened because their bowlers were not up to the task. Their spinners for most of the series were very inexperienced and it showed. Despite inspired captaincy from Stokes this simply could not be overcome. What was inexplicable was after Poe's superb innings in the 1st test these tactics were never tried again. Indeed the middle order were never consistent at all. We frequently saw batting collapses. They dropped catches at critical times Robinson being the obvious culprit.
India was the mirror image. Their batting strong ( how good was the opener) and consistent. The bowling except for the 1st test always penetrative and their catching usually very good.
Australia's much vaunted batting lineup except for the very 1st test against Pakistan looked highly vulnerable to bowling lineups which at best had only 3 1/2 test bowlers. Indeed if Pakistan had not grassed ssome pretty simple chances they might have won the series. The windies had no batting depth at lla but draw the 2 test series and the Kiwis blew chances to win or at least draw their series.
I am starting to wonder whether this was merely a result of tight bowling not great bowling.
The top three cricketing nations have aging bowling lineups. australia will see if their batting can cope with India next season. India will see if their new players can succeed in Australia. England will need to see if their batsmen can regain their mojo and also whether they have bowlers who can fil in the breach of their bowlers eventually retire.
It has been enjoyable to watch!
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