Ever since Brendon McCullum took charge in June 2022, England's Test cricket has undergone a dramatic transformation - rebooted batting, aggressive intent, and a brand new identity labelled Bazball.
But beneath the spectacle lies a truth: England still struggle when the opposition is India or Australia. As the Ashes looms, the numbers paint a clear picture. England's flair has improved their performances against the rest of the World Test Championship (WTC) teams, but against the two long-standing stronger sides, the gap remains almost the same as before.
England's Bazball revolution still has one big blind spot: beating the best
England haven't won an Ashes series since 2015 or against India since 2018, that drought spans four years before McCullum and Ben Stokes took charge and continues three years into the tenure.
England have improved but the win percentage against India and Australia is still half of what they manage against other WTC teams. Since June 2022 they were only able to draw home series against Australia and India, and lost 4-1 to India in India.
England's batting fearless but still a level below India and Australia
No department shows England's Bazball mindset more than the batting. That approach has accelerated scoring where England's strike-rate jumps from 48.1 to 70.7 compared to the previous era, and hundreds have doubled. In terms of average and strike rate, England ranked fifth and sixth out of nine teams in the previous era and have become first since McCullum has taken over the coaching role.
Though England's batting prowess has largely improved, that has yet to be seen against India and Australia who have outdone English batters by numbers in both the eras.
Improved bowling, but not against strong and consistent sides
One of Bazball's biggest successes is how England's bowling has levelled up on flatter wickets suited more to the batters but, again, not uniformly. Against everyone else, their attack is incisive. Against India and Australia? Not so much.
In the 16 Tests England have played against Australia and India since June 2022 they have failed to take 20 wickets in six of them including a rain curtailed Test at Old Trafford in the 2023 Ashes. The numbers show a stark difference in the average of nearly 10 runs and more than 15 deliveries to take a wicket against India and Australia compared to the other six WTC teams.
Since the start of the previous WTC cycle in June 2023 England bowlers take the most number of balls (57.1) to take a wicket amongst all WTC teams followed by Bangladesh with a balls/wicket ratio of 56.4.
England's new approach under the coaching of McCullum has been refreshing, fearless and incredibly successful against the other six WTC teams but it has yet to achieve a defining series victory.