JASON GILLESPIE: Bazball is sexy and exciting – but monumental mistakes cost England the Ashes

What has been clear throughout this series, and never more so than in this Test match, is that we have got two teams playing completely different styles.

You can argue which style is better. It is really easy to criticise Australia over their slow run rate and the whole Bazball thing is sexy and exciting. But England are 2-1 down. Australia have come out and retained the Ashes, so I think they have been absolutely justified in the way they have played.

Yes, England have played some really good cricket and outplayed Australia at Headingley and Old Trafford. We get that. But they also lost the first two Tests. They had the opportunity to drive the series at Edgbaston and Lord’s; they had the chance to be 2-0 up but they didn’t take it. Some monumental mistakes cost them.

So Australia can quite rightly stand there and say, “Hang on, why are we getting criticised for the way we are playing when we are 2-1 up and have retained the Ashes? We have done our job”.

We have all had a spirited debate on how Australia have gone about things and I am sure their think-tank will learn some lessons. But they came into this series with a strategy and have executed that to retain the Ashes. So it is hard to be ultra-critical of them.

England’s Bazball style in the Ashes is sexy and exciting – but Australia’s is gritty and effective

One thing has impressed people in Australia about England: the backing they give their players

But ultimately, England can have no complaints that the urn is heading back Down Under again

The way they batted on Friday was just reacting to the way England bowled. They just weren’t allowed to score because England’s seamers were outstanding and sometimes you have to take your hat off to the opposition and say, “Well bowled”.

I know England are on this mission to save Test cricket — although I am not sure England versus Australia needed saving — and they feel they will do that by scoring faster. That is their opinion and that is all fine.

But when you watched England seamers bowl really well on Friday, and Australia batters struggle, that was still enthralling. The ball doesn’t have to be flayed for six-an-over for games to be entertaining.

At the start of the series, England were saying the result didn’t matter because they wanted to change the direction of Test cricket and create a legacy. If that is your mindset, you can’t then complain about not being able to win the series because of the weather at Old Trafford.

But my theory is that Ben Stokes was just trying to take the expectation and the pressure off his players. He wants them to go out and play with freedom and take the criticism away from them. That is pretty inspiring leadership. 

And that is the one thing I think has impressed people in Australia about England, more so than their style of play — the backing they have given their players. When I was playing, England players would have one bad Test match and be jettisoned. But Stokes, Brendon McCullum and Rob Key have removed that fear of failure by getting rid of that nonsense from selection. 

England have given Zak Crawley complete autonomy to play his own game and he has rewarded their faith in spectacular style. He was outstanding again on Saturday and England have a great chance of drawing this series.

If it does end 2-2, there will be disappointment for Australia having been 2-0 up. Retaining the Ashes was their No 1 goal, but they would obviously love to actually win the series outright for the first time in England since I was playing in 2001. Hopefully they can still come away with the choccies.