Australia wicket-keeper batter Alex Carey seems unfazed by the “Bazball’ cricket and the hype around the famous approach which England advocates for in their cricket. Bazball — a term used to describe Ben Stokes’ team’s aggressive and attacking style of Test cricket — will not force Australia to do something different, which they have not been doing when they play England for the Ashes later this year, feels Carey.
“We probably don’t have to go too far away from our style of cricket. When we were over there (England) last time in the Ashes, there was a lot of talk about their new style of play. We’ve seen it for a number of years now, and there will be no surprises with it. We know the way that they play. Both teams have a good balance between grinding and going after them with certain players,” said Carey to Cricket Australia.
Even months before the start of the highly anticipated Ashes series between arch-rivals England and Australia, there have been shots fired from the sides, starting with David Warner’s comments on England batting mainstay Joe Root’s performance in Australia and his vulnerability against the in-swingers. Speaking about Root, who has never scored a century in Down Under, Warner had told BBC Sport: “The big anchor there is Rooty, who is yet to score a hundred in Australia. Josh Hazlewood tends to have his number quite a lot. He’ll have to take the surfboard off his front leg.”
However, Carey, who is recovering well from a concussion he suffered during the third Test against the West Indies in Jamaica, defended Root. “I don’t think he’ll be feeling any pressure (in the Ashes). Congratulations to him as well (for passing Ponting), it’s a fantastic career so far. No doubt, legends of the game want to do really well in every series, and he’ll be no different,” said Carey.
Root overtook Australia’s Ricky Ponting to become the second-highest Test run-getter after batting great Sachin Tendulkar during the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against India.
Carey also termed India’s thrilling win over England in the fifth Test “spectacular”, and said pacer Mohammed Siraj was able to get the old ball to move on the final day morning, which probably made the difference in the end.
“I think the whole series was pretty entertaining – the way it finished was pretty spectacular. To see five Test matches go five days is pretty unique. Seeing Woaksey (Chris Woakes) walk out to bat was pretty courageous. I was probably backing them (England) to score the runs. I reckon once we saw Siraj bowl that first over (on day 5), there was quite a bit of movement with a 77-over old ball,” said Carey.
