Former Australian cricketer Jason Gillespie praised Ben Stokes for his distinctive and eccentric field setting. Jason Gillespie hailed Pat Cummins too, claiming that their strategies, plans, and decisions are well-organized, and going with the defensive field was pivotal as England will be following the Bazball approach and will adopt an extremely aggressive stance, thus making it crucial to establish a comprehensive defensive formation.
Jason Gillespie also mentions, that although both captains placed defensive field, Ben Stokes received less criticism than Pat Cummins, due to the former’s quirky and unconventional field setting. Many cricket experts and fans hailed Ben Stokes for his unique field setting.
“Moving forward will see a bit of an evolution In Bazball philosophy..” – Jason Gillespie
Jason Gillespie believes that as the time will surpass, we are going to witness a more development and progress in England’s Bazball approach, he also mentions that the traditional method will also be applied by England as we saw when Ben Stokes was playing defensively against Nathan Lyon in the second innings of the Test. He stated while answering News18 Cricket Next:
“I really liked Ben Stokes’ captaincy during the first Test match. He employed some unusual fields, Some different fields. I thought he was excellent. But what we did see was two contrasting captains of styles and I thought both were very effective,” said Jason Gillespie.
“Pat Cummins was probably criticized in some quarters about his defensive field settings particularly with the ball and particularly early in the match. Ben Stokes did some of that as well, but he didn’t seem to cop the criticism Pat Cummins did for some reason even though he employed for periods of time, exactly the same fields as Pat Cummins. But because Ben starts employed some quirky fields unusual, field placings, he was praised for innovation,” he stated.
“It was really clear that Pat Cummins and the Australian coaches and they strategized very well, they planned very well. And they decided that well, you know what? This England team are coming out and playing the ‘Bazball’ and being ultra-aggressive. We’re going to employ a couple of defensive fielders, because they’re going to play that way anyway.,” he added.