5 batters who played aggressively in Test cricket before 'Bazball' was a thing

Team England is taking on South Africa in a three-match Test series starting on August 17 (Wednesday) at Lord’s Cricket Ground, London. The Three Lions after beating New Zealand and India in the Test matches will want to continue their good form and come on top against the Proteas side as well.

Under the leadership of skipper Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum, Team England has played an aggressive brand of cricket in the longest format of the game which has resulted in the origin of a new term ‘Bazball’. England’s new approach (Bazball) has been a talking point among several experts and former cricketers recently. However, there are a few batters who played aggressively in Test cricket before ‘Bazball’ was even a thing.

Let us take a look look at five such batters:

 5. Adam Gilchrist (Australia)

Former Australia wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist was a class apart and he played several impactful knocks for his country across all three formats of the game. He went on to play 96 Test matches with a strike rate of 81.95.

The left-handed batter scored a total of 5570 runs at an average of almost 48. Batting mostly at number 7, Gilchrist smashed 17 centuries and one double-century as well. The left-handed batter made his debut in 1999 against Pakistan at the Gabba, kicking off his Test career with a quick 81 off 88 balls at a strike rate of 92.04. He played his last game in 2008.

Gilchrist was comfortable against both pace and spin and he did not need many sighters to play his natural game. Not only in Test cricket, but the left-handed batter played with an excellent strike rate of 97 in ODIs as well. He scored 9619 runs in 287 matches in the format.