How Matt Henry and New Zealand put the final nail in the coffin of Bazball cricket

The Bazball era came to an end with the sacking of England’s Kiwi Test coach Brendon McCullum last month. They lost the Test series 2-1 against New Zealand in June at home despite winning the first Test at Lord's. Ben Stokes , who was involved in a nightclub controversy after the win, later announced his international retirement in the middle of the third Test. He had missed the second on account of the brawl, it may be noted.

McCullum’s sacking came a couple of weeks after Stokes’ retirement and with that, Bazball was officially dead. New Zealand pacer Matt Henry , who played in two of those three Tests in June, provided his take on the Bazball that saw England win 27 Tests out of 49. If truth be told, Bazball was quite successful at the beginning.

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“Honestly, I thought they did some great things,” Henry, who took 11 wickets in the second Test at the Oval, said on Wisden’s The Scoop.

“They put you under pressure and moved the game forward a lot, things that I suppose everyone was trying to do. They did it on quite a big scale, which obviously drew a lot of criticism as well. I suppose that's the difference, the media and the pressure over here is very different to what we have at home.

“But I think what they actually achieved in the game, in terms of putting the game forward, was really good. Obviously, on the other side of it, there were moments where you could expose it. And that's what happened,” the 34-year-old, who has played 173 internationals for the Kiwi team, added.

Henry, who is an all-format player for New Zealand, also discussed how Bazball cricket was challenging for opposition teams and how sticking to your guns eventually made a difference.

“But I think you're going into a game to try to win a game of cricket, and each team will try to do it the best way they see fit. We knew, 'Right, they're going to take it in this direction. How do we bring it back to our cricket?' It asked different questions of our own team, and that was where the focus and energy had to make you stronger about your own game, because they were always trying to pull you away from that. That was always a challenge when you're running in with a new ball, and you've got a guy charging you, trying to whack you over your head, which is not what you're after, is it?

“You're wanting someone who's caught in the crease and moving, and all of a sudden they're asking you, 'Hey, lose a catcher.' Then they go back to normal, and you nick it, and you've got no catcher there anymore. So there was so much in it that challenged you," Henry explained.

Henry recently represented Trent Rockets in the Hundred and took five wickets in eight games.

Prateek Srivastava is a senior sports journalist having been in the profession for two decades now. He started his print career with the India Today Group and later also worked for the Asian Age. In 2009, sensing the wind of change, he switched to the digital media and joined Mobile ESPN. There, he covered the 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2010 Hockey World Cup as a venue reporter.