In a manner that surprised no one, England hunted down a paltry 378 to finish with their highest successful Test chase, against India at Edgbaston. The era of Baz-Ball has well and truly begun.

None of India’s bowlers – or a chirping Virat Kohli in the slips – could stop the JR-JB bandwagon in the second innings, as England cruised to a seven-wicket win, hunting down the total even before the second new-ball was available. Among a flurry of other records, it was the highest Test chase by England, the highest chase against India, and the first time in nearly 150 years of Test cricket, that a team had chased down 250+ in four consecutive Tests. There’s very little to not suggest that the mayhem will stop; England might well be rewriting how Test cricket is meant to be played, and consumed. If you’ve got any doubts, just look at how bored these three blokes look after pulling off the eighth biggest chase in Test history:

At the end of the game, Ben Stokes said a “part of me wanted India to get 450 to see what we’d do”. The sheer audacity. As for the the India camp, Rahul Dravid cheekily said he wasn’t sure what Baz-Ball meant in the post-match presser.

It turns out that Baz-Ball actually follows a very specific formula. Perhaps that explains why McCullum looked unfussed in the aftermath.

For some, it’s hard to come to terms with how good England might be now.

India’s day, meanwhile, went from bad to worse. Despite having been despatched in double-quick time, it turned out they had actually bowled too slowly.

Cricket might be a team game – and especially so when it comes to McCullum’s England – but there’s still plenty of room for revelling in individual achievements, especially when they are this striking.

Still, not all stats are created equal…

How England celebrate this win remains to be seen, but a trip to Birmingham’s equivalent of Nottingham’s Mega Munch surely can’t be ruled out.

https://twitter.com/AlexBrianWhite/status/1544284854950535169

It’s only the first week of July, and already Bairstow is well set to break basically every record Root set last year.

Really though, the two are peas in a pod.

And between them, they are making England something quite special.

But the man most want to celebrate isn’t even English at all…