Vaughan says time for England to move on from failed 'Bazball'

SYDNEY, Jan 7 : England ‌need to finally move away from their high-risk, attacking 'Bazball' style of cricket and get back to basics after their Ashes series defeat, former captain Michael Vaughan told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

England ended the fourth day of the fifth and final test, at the Sydney Cricket Ground, battling to avoid falling to a 4-1 loss, despite the positives of centuries from Joe Root and 22-year-old Jacob Bethell.

Vaughan, who led England to a famous home Ashes series win over Australia in 2005, said it was time for team bosses to recognise that the style imposed by coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes had ultimately failed.

"The way that England play, that 'Bazball method', the ultra-risky method with the bat in hand hasn't worked because they haven't won the big series," said Vaughan, who is working as an analyst for ‌Fox Sports TV.  

"They haven't beaten India. They haven't beaten Australia. And obviously they've lost another Ashes series and they're not ‌anywhere near a World Test Championship final. 

"So it's (a need for) acceptance from the management and the leadership group and the ECB that things need to change."

The Yorkshireman said that the first innings 160 from Root and Bethell's second innings ton, both built on a solid, orthodox approach to batting, offered a clear guide to the way forward for the team.

"That's the tempo of test match batting, you just play the ball on the merit," he added.  

"They're all going to score because they are naturally gifted players but the real high-risk way of playing, I’m afraid it hasn't worked."

As well as opposing the zealous approach to fast run-scoring under the current England regime, Vaughan questioned the lack of attention to detail