'Bazball' is ruthlessly redefining Test cricket. England have tossed aside 145 years of prevailing wisdom to play in a way we never thought possible, writes Wisden Editor LAWRENCE BOOTH

• England secured an unlikely 2-2 series draw with India after a superb run chase 
• Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow both hit centuries to secure the seven-wicket win 
• The side treated their target of 378 with a ruthlessness bordering on contempt 
• They did so in a style that has mocked Test cricket's long-term prevailing wisdom

Soon after England treated a target of 378 with contempt, it became clear that their toughest challenge ahead may be finding new ways to explain one of the most staggering turnarounds in all of sport.

On June 1, they had won one Test out of 17 and become, once again, the laughing stock of world cricket. Now, they have won four in a row against New Zealand and India, the two finalists in last summer’s World Test Championship.

And they have done it in a style that has mocked Test cricket’s prevailing wisdom, solemnly handed down the generations over 145 years on slabs of marble.

England now have three of the fastest five run-chases ever — and all took place in the last few weeks.

Yet there’s more to ‘Bazball’ than throwing the bat. England are smart enough to recognise that. 

When they suffered a mini-collapse on the fourth evening of this game, turning 107 without loss into 109 for three, the facile response would have been to thrash their way out of trouble. 

With Jasprit Bumrah bowling like a dream and Virat Kohli maniacally conducting the crowd, it could have ended in disaster.

Instead, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow defused things, as Root explained on Tuesday.

‘They were all over us for a little bit and they were letting us know about it,’ he said. ‘It was about trying to take the sting out of it for four or five overs.

‘Then, when the moment came to put a bit of pressure back on, it was recognising it, taking it and being ruthless with it. It came up beautifully for us.’

As England transform what feels possible, they are determined not to be pigeon-holed by those desperate to make sense of the apparent madness.

Brendon McCullum, for instance, did not address the media until the end of the 3-0 win over New Zealand — partly because he didn’t want to steal the limelight, and partly, you suspect, because there is only so much he can say.

When the players are being encouraged to go for it, why get bogged down in theory? As others have said before him: never apologise, never explain.

McCullum’s approach extends to his attitude to practice and meetings. On a tour of New Zealand in 2008, England’s then coach Peter Moores infuriated senior players by insisting on a fitness session at the end of play. McCullum is at the other end of the spectrum. 

Players can dip in and out of net sessions according to their needs, while the team gathers later than previously before the start of games. It’s not just about empowering grown adults to make decisions: it’s about giving them time to live and breathe.

It’s to the credit of Root, who was a more conventional captain, that he is unthreatened by the instant success of the new laissez-faire mindset.

‘It’s a way of looking at the game slightly differently,’ he said.

‘It’s very relaxed, but sometimes that is what you need in a pressurised environment like Test cricket.

‘The most important thing is you know what you need to go out and do as a team, and then you commit to it.’

If it sounds simple, that’s because it is. Whether England could play this way if Root or Bairstow were not in the purplest patches of their careers is another matter.

But England would argue that is no coincidence. Freed from time-honoured tenets, they are playing a brand of cricket they never thought possible. 

Part of the fun will be seeing how far they can go.