He was standing close to the stumps for his fast bowlersJoe Root fell lbw once more in a huge boost to New Zealand. Blundell's heroic efforts in fearlessly standing close behind the stumps to his fast bowlers enabled New Zealand to fight back from 1-0 down and win the series 2-1 in June. Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey employed a similar strategy for Australia in their 4-1 Ashes series win in 2025-26. For all of England's talk of a new ultra-positive style of Test cricket, it was an old-school tactic that finally killed off Bazball. That and what Blundell said was the way that Stokes announced his retirement during play in the third Test.