“No one said it was reckless when Root was playing the reverse sweep” - England assistant coach launches staunch defense of Bazball

England’s assistant coach Jeetan Patel launched a staunch defense of the team’s aggressive approach in Tests, dubbed Bazball, despite the hosts’ batting collapse at Lord’s. Patel pointed out that no one termed England’s approach "reckless" when it was delivering desired results.

England find themselves on the back foot in the second Ashes 2023 Test against Australia. On Day 3, England resumed their first innings on 278/4. However, they lost six for 47 to crumble to 325 all-out. Australia then reached 130/2 by stumps in their second innings to put the visitors in a commanding position.

A number of England legends, including Michael Vaughan, Sir Geoffrey Boycott, and Kevin Pietersen, were critical of the team’s batting approach.

However, speaking after the end of the third day’s play, Patel defended the batters and commented:

"No one said it was reckless in New Zealand, no one said it was reckless when Joe Root was playing the reverse sweep, so like I said, our guys want to entertain.”

Speaking about Harry Brook’s dismissal immediately after he reached 50, Patel explained:

"I think Brooky's option was to take that. That was the only place he was going to hit four to maybe switch the momentum over. We're about trying to soak up pressure and apply it where we can. Part of trying to apply that was to get them off that length, which is obviously tough to score."

Despite England getting into trouble in both Ashes Tests so far, the former New Zealand off-spinner made it clear that the hosts are not going to back down from the aggressive approach.

He asserted:

"We've seen in the last year this is how this team operates and wants to get better and better and wants to push boundaries, wants to break more records. I think part of that has been having the courage enough to be able to go 'right, let's see how far we can take it'. I think that's the most important thing.”

England lost skipper Ben Stokes (17) early on Day 3 to a good delivery from Mitchell Starc. However, Brook (50) and Jonny Bairstow (16) perished in their attempt to take on the bowling, while the tail offered no resistance.

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“We’re trying to put them on the back foot” - Patel on England’s approach

Patel admitted that things have not quite panned out the way they would have liked so far in the Ashes. He, however, expressed confidence that the hosts can fight back, asserting that they have some high-quality players.

The 43-year-old commented:

"Some of the most skillful players in the world are up in that dressing room and they're desperate to show their skills off. Part of that is not getting it right all the time. That's the way cricket works. Two teams out there, two very good teams, that want to win an Ashes series.

"The people that do pay 150 pounds to get into this ground, that's what they want to see and I think that's what we're trying to show. If we get on the right side of this or we don't, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter in my mind anyway. What does matter is how we go about it.

"I think we're trying to put them on the back foot but some parts of this game have gone our way and some haven't. Tomorrow [Saturday] is another chance for us," he concluded.

Australia will resume their second innings with a lead of 221. At stumps on Day 3, Usman Khawaja was batting on 58 and Steven Smith on six.