DEREK PRINGLE

Ozball 1, Bazball 0. Tortoise 1, Hare 0. Traditionalists 1, Disruptors 0….. just some of the headlines aired in the aftermath of England’s defeat by Australia in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, a match Ben Stokes’s side, by most reckonings, should have won.
The goading tone of headlines is typical of Ashes encounters but if any were coined with the intention of getting England to reconsider their attacking ways, their words will be wasted. The architects of Bazball are not for turning and why should they be after notching 11 wins from 14? That is a 78% win rate, better th...