Ben Stokes feels vindicated as England's 'BazBall' antics pay off in Ashes th

England captain Ben Stokes stuck to his guns despite criticism of his fearless lsquoBazballrsquo approach and feels vindicated after his side leveled the Ashes series on a dramatic final dayAustralia were wellplaced at 2643 chasing a mammoth 384 to win and even had they come away with just a draw that would have been enough to secure a 21 series success But instead they suffered a dramatic collapse after a lengthy rain delay on the fifth day at The OvalBrilliant BroadStuart Broad took the final two wickets as England won by 49 runs to pull level at 22 England started the series against Australia confident their gungho approach would work even against the newly crowned world Test championsThey had good reason to be upbeat with an impressive record of 11 wins in 13 matches since Stokes had teamed up with coach Brendon McCullum after whom Bazball is namedStokes raised eyebrows by declaring in the first innings of the first Test at Edgbaston when England were 3938 with half an hourrsquos play left leaving Joe Root high and dry on 118 not out in a match they ultimately lost England were criticised for falling for Australiarsquos hooking trap in the second Test at Lordrsquos when they were wellplaced to take control Ben Duckett bullishly came out and said the team did not regret taking on Australiarsquos shortball challenge despite the disappointment of falling for 98 ldquoItrsquos the way we play our cricketrdquo he said ldquoIf we went into our shells and got bombed out it would be totally against the way we playrdquoBut former England captain Michael Vaughan described it as ldquostupid Test match cricketrdquo Australia went on to win that match by 43 runs despite Stokesrsquos heroic 155 in Englandrsquos second innings to go 20 up in the series The home side won a nailbiter at Headingley by three wickets and would almost certainly have leveled the series at Old Trafford without a deluge in Manchester after Crawleyrsquos stunning 189 off 182 balls That would have set up the fifth and final Test at The Oval for a perfect conclusion turning it into a onematch shootoutAlso Read Ashes 2023 lsquoWe refined our approach as series wore onrsquo says England coach Brendon McCullumA clatter of unnecessary wickets on Saturday meant Australiarsquos target in London was less than it might have been but ultimately it did not matter as England roared back to win Stokes speaking in the aftermath of victory said England had been ldquovery successfulrdquo with Bazball but he was not surprised to face pushback ldquoCriticism is part and parcel of everything you dordquo he said ldquoBut obviously the most important views and the most important opinions that we view and that I view as a leader are the opinions of the people around me people who Irsquom trying to speak to to get the output that I seekHussainrsquos quandaryldquoWhen you see performances particularly in this series thatrsquos the vindication the most important people you worry about are in your dressing roomrdquoFormer England captain Nasser Hussain who suffered the pain of defeat against Australia said he had been torn over the current sidersquos approach ldquoI have been in a quandary in this seriesrdquo he told Sky Sports ldquoI see the bigger picture of wanting to entertain but I have also seen the historical picture of lsquowe used to get battered by this lotrsquo ldquoWhen you have an Australian down keep them down It is also about winning Yes entertain but win as well England have just tightened it and got the right side of the line to win and entertainrdquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever