Crawley calls for refinement to ‘Bazball’ after India defeat, says England will continue to ‘score quickly’

India won the series despite losing the first Test, with its dominance in the series subjecting the visitor’s much-hyped “Bazball” approach to significant scrutiny.

England’s Zak Crawley walks back to the pavilion after losing his wicket. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

England needs to remain positive and make some adjustments to its aggressive style of play in Test cricket following its 4-1 series defeat in India this month, opener Zak Crawley said.

India won the series despite losing the first Test, with its dominance in the series subjecting the visitor’s much-hyped “Bazball” approach to significant scrutiny.

Former England captains including Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton urged the team to temper its strategy laid out for the side by skipper Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum.

Asked about England’s approach, Crawley, who scored 407 runs in the series, told reporters, “It just needs a bit of refinement. We always talk about absorbing pressure and putting pressure back on. The last couple of years we’ve done the putting back on pretty well, and we’ve spoken about maybe picking those moments to absorb at the right times as well. We can certainly refine that. That’s not to say we’re going to get more negative. We will still try to play the way we have and try to score quickly, but just pick those moments where they’re on top. We need to make sure we stay positive and don’t let a tough result get in the way of what we’ve done really well over the last couple of years.”

England next returns to Test action in July against West Indies after this year’s Twenty20 World Cup.