Mark Butcher has defended England’s style of play in the wake of their thrashing in the third Test at Rajkot, ascribing their defeat simply to “a poor performance on day three with the bat”, rather than anything more fundamental.
At the end of the second day, England and India were tied on the score, with Ben Duckett’s century giving England a 207-2 lead in response to India’s 445 all out. His next two days could not have been worse for a tourist. They lost 112-8, falling to a total of 319 runs and were then powerless to stop the hosts, who posted a score of 430-4 with Yashasvi Jaiswal’s second consecutive Test century. They lost 557 points to victory, dropping their total to 112 points. The 434-run difference was India’s largest in Test history and England’s worst defeat in 90 years.
After the defeat, there was much criticism of England’s style of play. Under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, England pushed for a more attacking approach, achieving success under his guidance with 14 wins and six losses in Tests, but a third-day collapse saw England push for a more attacking approach. There were a number of ejections due to hitting, and some teams took action. Former England captain Michael Vaughan said the buzz ball had been exposed.
Wisden Cricket Weekly In his podcast, Butcher defended the buzz ball and pointed to India’s underwhelming home performance – India had only three home Tests in the 12 years prior to this series. They had lost – and under McCullum and Stokes England should grow and create enough relief.
“I’m a little surprised that the backlash has been so strong in the last few days, considering what’s basically been happening with all the visiting teams touring India,” he said. “Be it Bunsen’s roaring ball or the better surfaces, as we have seen in the last two matches, Indian teams tend to perform quite poorly, with England playing in their native fashion until the third day.
Also, it’s a little shocking that ever since Ben and Baz took over and this new, slightly more light-hearted style of Test Match came out, people have been looking forward to this day. I really hope they stumble. I’m not entirely sure this is actually the kind of game where I’m going to root for her all the way. Yes, they stuffed the bat a bit on the third morning, but that’s probably what happens to you when you blow a 150-run lead at the end in India. The fact that it didn’t happen in the first Test match is a miracle in itself. I don’t think that justifies the criticism of Buzz Ball. I don’t think they performed well on their third day with the bats, but what happened after that was completely predictable.
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“It is very important to reiterate that to all those who have tried to get on England’s nerves about their approach and everything else throughout this Test match, including ourselves. I think it’s important.’ You forget that this is an issue. This is a team that should not coexist with India in such a domestic situation. Therefore, the expectation of winning a Test match series in India, even with the strongest team, is not a lost hope, but a hope that transcends any form of expectation. And what we’ve seen over the past four days is pretty much what you would expect under normal circumstances. India took the lead in the first inning and looked to score a lot of runs in the second inning, when they had a relatively good run, throwing one out. That’s what I expected anyway. ”
Butcher also assumed England had a chance of regaining their footing in this series, but admitted they would need to play “perfectly” to do so.
“In fact, I think England are in a better position than ever to bounce back from a defeat like this,” he said. “It’s very unlikely that after this defeat they will shut themselves up in their shells and start questioning themselves and blaming each other. So they will focus on the next game as if nothing like that happened. I have the memory of a goldfish in a situation where I was beaten. They will go into the game very confident that they can turn the game back to 3-2. Some may say this is a delusion, but what is the alternative? To go out with your tail between your legs and go against everything you stand for and lose better, and that’s one of the great things about Ben Stokes’ approach as captain, it’s three minutes Whether it’s 3 minutes or 3 minutes, a loss is a loss whether it’s a whole day or 400 o’clock, whether something is happening.
“England were one of the teams playing their third Test match.The fear that if the toss had been reversed, England would have scored in the first innings still lingered in the back of India’s mind. Their positive attitude will allow them to upset India at home. It will be in the back of your mind. But things have to go perfectly for England. We can’t afford to have a bad session and we can’t afford to miss any opportunities on the field. We cannot afford to lose multiple wickets in a short period of time. Because there’s little chance of recovery from that, especially when the bowling attack is as green as what they have.
“Obviously it’s disappointing, Ben and the players will talk about it, but just not worrying too much about losing, it doesn’t affect you, it’s about the way you play the game and everything else. Of course it hurts. But I think a lot of people who manage to get into the next game after a loss like this than what happened in the past where the accusations are so strong and everyone tries to come out of their shell. I would like to see the players. The chances of it happening again, or worse, are much greater. I’m happy to give them a break, especially after everything that happened under Buzz Ball, and I definitely don’t recommend them throwing out the baby with the bathwater. With the players they have there. ”
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