England captain Joe Root is wary of "ripping up" their Bazball blueprint, but hopes his experience can help the team return to winning ways in his second stint as full-time skipper.

Wicketkeeper Tom Blundell believes his standing up to the stumps in England -- a move that helped kill off the "Bazball" era -- was a case of New Zealand shelving their egos for the good of the team.

England Test captain Joe Root plans to keep faith with the aggressive 'Bazball' tactics used by his predecessor Ben Stokes as he starts his second spell in the role.

England cricket chief Rob Key has left the door open for a dramatic international comeback by former Test captain Ben Stokes, who announced his shock retirement in late June.

England need to finally move away from their high-risk, attacking 'Bazball' style of cricket and get back to basics after their Ashes series defeat, former captain Michael Vaughan told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

Ben Stokes has urged England chiefs to keep faith with "Bazball" architect Brendon McCullum despite a stinging Ashes defeat in Australia.

The already-soured relations between bitter rivals India and Pakistan reached a new low when the nuclear-armed neighbour engaged in a military conflict in May that nearly snowballed into a full-fledged war.

Bazball's champions, coach Brendon 'Baz' McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, may argue otherwise and claim England's death-or-glory style can be retooled and rise again.

Four years on, Bazball is now in the firing line, with former players and pundits decrying the high-risk game on Australia's spicy pitches.

Like former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Brendon 'Baz' McCullum has never been one for a U-turn -- as cricketer, captain or current England coach.

Glenn McGrath has backed Australia to secure a 5-0 clean sweep in the 2025-26 Ashes, predicting another dominant display on home soil when the series begins in November.  

He finished the five-match series in England with a chart-topping 23 wickets, the highest for any bowler.

A team who had won one of their previous 17 Test matches not only enjoyed a massive uplift in results, the manner of their victories came about thanks to a rapid run rate not previously seen in Test cricket.

Head coach Brendon McCullum says New Zealand wickets will be better suited to England's aggressive brand of cricket, dubbed "Bazball", after his side were crushed in the final two Tests in Pakistan on turning tracks.

Test captain Ben Stokes indicated Tuesday he would be ready to make an England limited-overs comeback.

England next return to test action in July against the West Indies, after this year's Twenty20 World Cup.

"I don't give too much away as the series is going on but I'm always man enough to say we got beaten by the better team," Stokes told reporters.

India's five-wicket victory on a spiteful track in Ranchi was not really a cakewalk, thanks to England's never-say-die spin attack.

"On this occasion, their skill was better than ours," Stokes told reporters.

"This England team are hell bent on doing things their way, and 'saving test cricket'. They are giving test cricket a shot in the arm because they are so exciting," Michael Vaughan wrote in Britain's Daily Telegraph.