Sawt Falasteen - How Blundell's old school tactic ended England's 'Bazball' era

Blundell's heroic efforts in fearlessly standing close behind the stumps to his fast bowlers enabled New Zealand to fight back from 1-0 down and win the series 2-1 in June.

England captain Ben Stokes retired during the third Test and, soon after, coach Brendon "Baz" McCullum was sacked, bringing down the curtain on the pair's attacking style of Test cricket, widely dubbed "Bazball".

Blundell managed to avoid serious injury from fielding so close to New Zealand's speed merchants, a tactic that is fraught with danger, but described how he woke every morning with swollen and aching hands.

"It was just a constant sort of barrage, but I was fortunate not to get hit on the end of a finger or anything," Blundell told AFP.

Blundell began standing up in 2023 in Wellington to keep England's attacking batsmen quiet during a home series, after a request by seam bowler Matt Henry.

"We were the first ones to try it out," Blundell said.

"We used it for Ollie Pope initially. He was getting a long way out of the crease, and it happened quite organically.

"Matt Henry was the one to ask me to come up. I was quite reluctant at the time.

"Usually a fast bowler doesn't want you to come up, it hurts the ego a little bit, but Matt Henry is such a team guy, he'll do anything for the team."

The players noticed the move kept England's batsmen stuck in the crease and slowed the scoring rate.

It led to the run-out of danger man Harry Brook for a duck in the second innings of the second Test -- a match New Zealand won by a single run.

Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey employed a similar strategy for Australia in their 4-1 Ashes series win in 2025-26.

Blundell said he was surprised, when he tried it again in June, that England's batsmen still struggled to adjust.

- 'It was so bizarre' -

"Even Harry Brook, who dances down the wicket so well, he's a totally different player when the keeper's up," said Blundell.

"I thought he would run at it, and I was just waiting. But it never happened. He never did.

"I was surprised. I remember he snicked off to first slip, and that's just not him. That's not how Harry Brook gets out."

For all of England's talk of a new ultra-positive style of Test cricket, it was an old-school tactic that finally killed off Bazball.

That and what Blundell said was the way that Stokes announced his retirement during play in the third Test.

"It was just bizarre," he said of the fourth day at Trent Bridge, when New Zealand effectively sealed the series as Stokes tried to finish his career in a blaze of glory, only to suffer a rapid defeat.

"We saw on TV that Ben Stokes had retired, and we were like: 'What's going on here?'," he said of the retirement bombshell that dropped just before tea.

"Then when we declare and (Stokes) comes running out to open the batting.

"They actually got a great start but then they just kept coming so hard.

"We had the whole field out, they could have worked it around, surely that's what you want, but they kept picking fielders out."

New Zealand's Rachin Ravindra was heard asking, "What are they doing?", as England collapsed to 212 all out to hand New Zealand a 160-run win and the series.

Blundell described it as a "laugh-off", rather than a traditional send-off for Stokes.

"It was just so bizarre, honestly."

McCullum has been replaced with another former New Zealand captain, Stephen Fleming, as England turn a new page with Joe Root reinstalled as captain.

As for Blundell, he said he may be back up to the stumps when New Zealand play Tests against India and Australia later this year.

R.Halabi--SF-PST