Stokes’ retirement from international cricket following England’s 160-run defeat to New Zealand at Trent Bridge has brought renewed focus on the numbers behind Bazball, the attacking philosophy he and head coach Brendon McCullum introduced in June 2022.
On the field
England’s strike rate rose from 48.08 to 70.72 per innings, while centuries nearly doubled from 22 to 45 across a similar number of matches.
Their ranking for average and strike rate among the nine Test nations climbed from sixth and fifth in the previous era to first in both categories.
In terms of scoring rate, England moved from around 3.3 runs per over before Bazball to between 4.4 and 4.5 per over, while conceding roughly 3.58, the fastest rate of any team across the same span of matches.
Andy Zaltzman’s final stats from a riveting England-New Zealand Test series tell the story of Bazball 📈 pic.twitter.com/67Y1CVJIad
— Cricinfo (@cricinfo) June 30, 2026
The results
The flip side is just as telling. The approach yielded eight series wins from twelve attempts, though the Ashes proved a consistent blind spot, with the urn unclaimed throughout the entire era.
Highs included a 3-0 series win over New Zealand in 2022 and the record 378-3 chase against India, while the biggest lows featured a 4-1 Ashes hammering in 2025-26, and series defeats to India and Pakistan.
Whatever comes next for English cricket, Bazball leaves behind numbers as divisive as the style itself.
Photo: Reuters/Andrew Boyers
