Everything you know about Test cricket is wrong.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Well that might be the conclusion of some fans who watched a resurgent England make light of a chase of 378 in the Covid-delayed fifth Test against India.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
It was the latest example of 'Bazball' in action, with a seven-wicket win in Birmingham England's fourth successful chase in as many Tests under a new leadership duo of coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes following a 3-0 whitewash of Test world champions New Zealand.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
That series saw England chase down seemingly stiff targets of 277, 299 and 296.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
No England side, however, had previously made more to win in the fourth innings of a Test than 359, when Stokes' brilliant century secured a thrilling victory over Australia at Headingley three years ago.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
But with Joe Root (142 not out) and Jonny Bairstow (114 not out) sharing an unbroken partnership of 269, that mark was overhauled with ease at Edgbaston as England ended a five-match series all square at 2-2.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Yet as well as former England captain Root and Bairstow batted, they are in-form and experienced internationals.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Arguably the greatest revelation about England's latest run-chase was how they attacked it from the start, with Alex Lees and Zak Crawley, both of whom had been struggling for runs, sharing a century opening stand in 19.5 overs -- the fastest in England Test history.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
- 'Real clarity' -
\r\nStokes said England's approach was down to a change in attitude from a team that had won just one of its 17 previous Tests prior to the New Zealand series.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"When you've got real clarity in what you want to achieve as a team and how you want to play it makes things a lot easier," said Stokes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"We know what we were going to do -- we knew we were always going to go out and try and chase that down from the get-go.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"A great way to explain is that teams are perhaps better than us, but teams won't be braver than us.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"(England spinner) Jack Leach said that to me and it is a great way to sum things up at the moment," the all-rounder added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Scoring runs quickly in Test cricket is nothing new.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
A celebrated West Indies team once chased down a target of 342 inside a day to beat England by nine wickets at Lord's, with opener Gordon Greenidge making an unbeaten double century.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
And the successful Australia teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s looked to score at a rate of four per over in order to give their bowlers as much time as possible to take the 20 wickets needed to win a Test.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
But on Tuesday, England were scoring at a rate of nearly five an over, with the way Root reverse scooped medium-pacer Shardul Thakur for six a sign of how T20 shot-making, unknown to previous generations, is influencing the longer game.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Former New Zealand captain McCullum was credited for being the inspiration behind England's rise from white-ball no-hopers to 2019 50-over World Cup winners and England clearly hope he will have a similar effect now he is directly involved with the Test side.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Four matches is a small sample size, however, and had Rishabh Pant stayed in for just a little longer in India's second innings, Stokes may have been granted a wish where he "almost wanted them to get 450 (ahead), to see what we did."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
India coach Rahul Dravid, one of the best batsmen of his era, was impressed by England but said the way Pant had scored a typically dynamic 146, in a first innings where Ravindra Jadeja also made a hundred, proved Stokes' side did not have a copyright on attacking play.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"When your players are doing well, are in good form, then you can play really positively, can take the game forward," said Dravid.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"We also showed when Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja were playing in the first innings -- we played pretty positive cricket.<\/p>\r\n\r\n