The ankle injury that befell James McCollum at Lord's a fortnight ago was unfortunate for a number of reasons - depriving the Ireland opener of valuable Test experience, as well as leaving No. 8 Andy McBrine stranded in sight of a maiden hundred and a place on the honours board. Less significantly, because England still went on to complete a comfortable win, it meant that for the first time under Ben Stokes the bowlers had failed to take all ten wickets in an innings.
Ireland were all out, of course, which is the statistic that matters. But McCollum retiring hurt ended a run of 24 innings across 13 Tests in which England had rounded up ten wickets; the only time they hadn't taken 20 in a match coincidentally also came at Lord's in an innings defeat to South Africa last August. This century, only South Africa had managed a longer streak (25 consecutive innings between 2017 and 2018).
If skyscraping run rates have been the most arresting feature of England's approach under Stokes and Brendon McCullum, no less important has been a hitherto-lacking cutting edge with the ball - a commitment to wicket-taking that has seen them find a way everywhere from Mount Maunganui to Multan.
In batting, the old adage says, "It's not about how, but how many." England have subverted that with their bowling plans. The "how many" is non-negotiable - 20 wickets to win a Test - but the "how" is the crux of the matter. Whether it is through stacking the slips, introducing spin inside the first hour or switching to a short-ball bombardment, Stokes has refused to let games drift in a manner that England captains past have been guilty of.
Old guard, new approach
Under Stokes, England's three most successful bowlers have been James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Jack Leach. Given they have close to 1300 Test wickets between them, those first two names are not hugely surprising - but it should be remembered neither was involved in the series prior to Stokes taking over as captain, a 1-0 defeat in the Caribbean.
Their recall was immediate and indicative of a change of priorities, in which England committed to picking their best XI at all times rather than attempting to juggle personnel for future series. And the senior seamers also swiftly bought into a more aggressive approach, one that was articulated by Broad ahead of the first Test of the 2022 summer. "The mindset is how we get the batter to make a mistake quicker: how do we apply pressure quicker? If we can bowl a team out in 85 overs going at 3.3 an over, compared to 120 at 2.5 ... that's a better option as it speeds the game up for our batters."
Anderson was duly given a six-man slip cordon on the first morning against New Zealand at Lord's, and both he and Broad have happily - or without too much grumbling, at least - traded higher economy for lower strike rates. "Bowling dry", the Andrew Strauss tactic they employed so successfully during England's 2009-2011 rise to No. 1 in the Test rankings, has been overtaken by "Baz-bowling".
Lynchpin Leach
Stokes' handling of Leach has been one of the most striking aspects of his captaincy - even if on paper the spinner's statistics are solid rather than spectacular. Leach was the only bowler to play every game under Stokes, bowling more than 500 overs and fulfilling the seemingly incompatible briefs of being more attacking while also holding up an end.
Leach's average (38.22), strike rate (68.6) and economy (3.33) are all higher than they were when Joe Root was captain - although that is partly accounted for by tours to Sri Lanka and India under Root where spin bowling dominated. And numbers are only part of the story, with Leach evidently more comfortable in an England shirt than at any time before.
"It's been a nice realisation for me," he told the Guardian last August, "that maybe my ceiling is higher than I realised. Ben is always convincing me of it. I'll say 'can we have mid-off out', and he'll be like 'nope'. Then I'll get whacked over the top and look round and he will be clapping and clapping, with a big smile on his face. It just made me think to myself 'this is so great'."
His absence for the Ashes with a back stress fracture is all the more significant, then - and, as Andrew McDonald has observed, adapting at the last minute will be a challenge for England. In Moeen Ali, England have an experienced replacement who had seemingly fallen out of love with the Test game; reigniting his spark could be Bazball's greatest trick to date.
Depth and smart selection
In 13 Tests with Stokes as captain, England's bowlers have collectively averaged 29.21. Their opponents in that time have averaged 38.65 - a difference of -9.44 runs per wicket, which puts them second only to Australia. In the preceding two years, under Root, they averaged slightly more than their opponents with the ball (31.02 to 30.78) and were ranked sixth in the world.
The turnaround, although partly attributable to the effect of their barnstorming batting, has been stark but the methods simple, largely around subtle changes to tactics and mindset rather than personnel. Anderson and Broad have played 10 Tests each - the latter missing the tour of Pakistan while on paternity leave - and Leach has been a mainstay, all three revelling in the environment. Ollie Robinson returned as a leaner, fitter third prong (if that is a fair description of the ICC's No. 6-ranked bowler and a man who could be leading the attack in a year or two), having taken note of Stokes' approach to looking after his body.
And while attempts to give Stokes his desired stable of eight fit fast bowlers for the Ashes have been hampered by injuries - Jofra Archer, Olly Stone and Jamie Overton are all currently out of contention - England have continued to unearth options. Matt Potts, a hard-working captain's pick from Durham, claimed 20 wickets in five Tests last summer before running out of steam and being replaced by Robinson, while Josh Tongue shot into the reckoning as a seamer capable of hitting 90mph/145kph with his performance against Ireland, as he became the third bowler under Stokes (after spinners Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed in Pakistan) to take a five-for on debut.
Stokes has himself taken 20 wickets - but only two since the end of last summer, amid questions about whether he is still a viable all-round option. And although Mark Wood has only played twice, his extra pace contributed to victories in Multan and Karachi as England maintained their threat in some of the most inhospitable bowling conditions imaginable.
Problems still to solve
England's new Test blueprint, of fast-forward batting and front-foot bowling on true surfaces, arguably moves them away from what has been a position of strength at home - where touring sides, including Australia over the last two decades, have struggled to cope in seaming conditions. Stokes has been public in his request for "fast, flat pitches" but, as Josh Hazlewood pointed out this week, Australia will be confident of tilting that to their advantage.
There is also the small matter of Australia being able to deploy the top three Test batters in the world, according to the updated ICC rankings. Travis Head has limited experience in England at the highest level, but comes into the series on the back of a scintillating - and Bazball-esque - innings of 163 in the World Test Championship final, while Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne are old foes. Ollie Pope has hinted that England might have some "quirky" plans for Smith, in particular, but they have attempted to funk with his head before, with little success (in 2019, they had him caught in the leg trap at The Oval, in his final innings - having seemingly been trying for the dismissal all series).
Over the course of the next six-and-a-half weeks, Stokes and his bowlers will be looking to maintain their immaculate record and bowl Australia out ten times. Such is the strength of Australia's attack, even that might not be enough to guarantee reclaiming the Ashes - but it's not a bad place to start.
With stats inputs from Shiva Jayaraman