Kolkata, July 10 -- Not too long ago, winning the toss and batting was the norm. Notwithstanding overhead conditions, soil texture or the roller type used, it is generally accepted that the pitch stays good for batting till the third day before it starts leaning towards the bowlers. In England though, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have ripped out that page from the pitch preparation manual with largely favourable results - 16 wins, 5 defeats and one draw - since they joined forces in June, 2022. Seven of those wins came after England chose to bowl. In each of the five Tests England lost the toss and were asked to bowl, they won. So convinced was Stokes about this approach that in the Birmingham Test of 2022, he won the toss and promptly said "we'll have a chase" instead of "we'll have a bowl". England chased down 378 on the fifth day. This was a bold England, but also a predictable England, courtesy the pitches that facilitated their freestyle batting. Winning the toss thus is one of the two ways of wrong-footing England. The other is what India did at Edgbaston - bury them under so many runs that chasing becomes inconceivable as does grinding out a draw because it's not hardwired into their psyche. Does it make for watchable cricket? Sure. Draws are virtually outlawed. Taking the pitch out of the equation is a sure shot way of achieving that. Gaining immediate benefit thus were England's top-order batters: Ollie Pope's average at home rose from 27.25 before McCullum took charge to 46.65 now; or Ben Duckett, who, from not being considered to play at home before June, 2022, aggregates 49.72. Fast bowlers, inevitably, quickly found themselves at the receiving end. None other than James Anderson called out that disparity during the 2023 Ashes, writing in his column for The Telegraph that the Edgbaston pitch for the first Test was "like kryptonite" for him. No one is more successful than Anderson at Lord's but he toiled to get only two wickets in the second Test there. Two years down the line, nothing has changed. But to put things in context, data for the last two decades was also scrutinised. It had interesting insights. Overall, average swing in England has slid from 1.21 from 2006-15 to 0.96 since 2016; average seam has risen to 0.63 from 0.59 and the average fourth innings score has spiked to 201 from 193. Goes without saying, most of this change has happened since Ben Stokes went on record asking for "fast, flat pitches" after becoming captain in April, 2022. Out went skilful bowling, and in came more audacious batting that dared to bring down any total. While it has waned at Lord's and Old Trafford in the last 10 years, the average fourth innings score has taken off in Edgbaston (151 to 196) and Trent Bridge (151 to 189), and at Leeds (171 to 321), once considered a haven for pacers. To produce entertaining cricket - connoisseurs of Test cricket may disagree - you need placid, lifeless pitches that don't surprise batters, seems to be the philosophy. These numbers prove England are getting there. A side-effect of this approach is the Dukes ball going soft around the 30-over mark in this series since it's losing shine faster than before due to a lack of grass cover on the pitch. Akash Deep was at least hitting the roughs at Edgbaston to get the new ball to seam, but once it got old, he too was rendered benign. This is giving a wide berth to batters throughout the duration of the Test, something even India skipper Shubman Gill doesn't support, despite his team winning at Edgbaston....