Michael Vaughan has claimed that his England side already played ‘Bazball’ during the iconic 2005 Ashes series.
England hope their fearless style, endorsed by coach Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, will inspire them to victory over old rivals Australia in the coming weeks.
But the series will have to be quite special to match the drama of England’s victory in the summer of 2005, not least their crucial two-run triumph at Edgbaston, with the final Ashes kicking off next Friday.
18 years ago, England lost the first Test at Lord’s by an emphatic margin of 239 runs, but Vaughan’s side got a boost ahead of play in Birmingham when dangerous Australian speedy Glenn McGrath stepped on a stray cricket ball and tore ankle ligaments.
England hit 400 runs on the first day, the first team to do so against Australia since 1938, and Vaughan sees clear similarities to the modern approach.
Michael Vaughan has likened his England team during the 2005 Ashes series to the ‘Bazball’ style favored by Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum in the upcoming match
Kevin Pietersen (left) and Andrew Flintoff (right) memorably beat the Australian bowlers to all parts of Edgbaston on the first day of the 2005 Ashes Test there
Coach Brendon McCullum (left) and captain Ben Stokes ahead of Friday’s Edgbaston test
“I remember having a team meeting on Tuesday night and I basically gave the players the freedom to go and be really aggressive with the bat,” Vaughan says in a new 10-part original podcast series from Global, Legends of the Asheslaunching Thursday.
“I said like Warnie [Shane Warne] comes on try to hit him for six. If McGrath, and obviously we thought McGrath was going to play, you know, we can knock that first spell off.
“I think it’s important that we respect that first spell. But when it comes to his second, let’s go for it. We have to be aggressive.
“I didn’t expect to get 400, I think it was 80 [overs]… very much like modern England with Ben Stokes.
‘We played Bazball in 2005 for that first day in Edgbaston!’
While opener Marcus Trescothick top-scored that day with 90 off 102 balls, the free hitting really got going as Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff combined for a fifth wicket stand of 103.
Pietersen hit 71 from 76 and Flintoff hit 68 from 62 before a tail-wagging against Warne’s devilish spin put England above 400.
McGrath had taken nine wickets in the two innings at Lord’s and England braced for more damage for his freak injury.
The 2005 series changed when dangerous Australian bowler Glenn McGrath injured his ankle just before the Second Test at Edgbaston
England celebrates a Flintoff wicket in a test regarded as some of cricket’s greatest ever
“I still can’t remember seeing the ball but I remember feeling it and I’d done my ankle many times, played well enough, played basketball when I was younger and I knew I’d done it, done pretty well,” he recalled on the new podcast.
“And then you went for a scan, two completely torn ligaments, also a little bit of bone damage.
“I came back in time that it was announced through the PA system that I was out of the test due to injury.
“I heard that before the game and there was a huge cheer on the ground. Probably the biggest cheer I’ve had in the UK!’
Vaughan added: ‘You shouldn’t really celebrate big players being carried away at that point, but we did! Especially Tres – he couldn’t believe his luck!’
Australia countered England’s 407 with 308, but then Warne wove his six-wicket spell as the hosts were bowled out for just 182 in their second innings.
Vaughan’s finest hour for England came during the legendary Ashes series in 2005
The ex-captain from England spoke on a new global podcast series ‘Legends of the Ashes’
Chasing 282 for a 2-0 series lead and likely dominance of the rest of the series, Australia succumbed to the wrath of Flintoff, Simon Jones, Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison to pull the strings with 136 for six .
What England failed to reckon with was a counter-attack from Warne, Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz that brought the Aussies to the brink of improbable victory.
“I think we’re going to lose this, this is ridiculous,” recalled Vaughan. “They’re crossing the line.
“This is how great they are, they didn’t play really good cricket the whole test match.
“But you know, they were about to win the game and I was trying to talk in my head, ‘Well, at least we were in it.’
Shane Warne had weaved his spin magic 18 years ago to keep Australia in the test
Flintoff takes a moment to comfort Australia’s Brett Lee after England’s win at Edgbaston in 2005
“You know, we played really good cricket, so we can be proud of our performance because we competed with this great side.
And then I think: we have to win. If we don’t beat them on this occasion it will probably be five-zero because we will be down. We have no chance of getting the boys to Old Trafford in a few days.’
Any Ashes fan knows what happened next.
“I don’t remember much about the party except I obviously saw it on TV and I have no idea why I jumped on Freddie Flintoff,” Vaughan said.
“I have no idea why I pulled his ears.
“You just do these stupid things when you’ve come to the end of what was four days of great cricket.”
Legends of the Ashes is a new ten-part Global Original podcast series launching Thursday, June 15 on Global Player and all major audio platforms