The term ‘Bazball’ derives from England’s new coach, Brendan McCullum and his style of play, even though he refrains from using the term. It embodies the positive style of play, as orchestrated in the recent achievements in the white ball format for England.
As captain, Ben Stokes implemented this new mantra to the maximum, seeing him criticised for ‘throwing away his wicket’ in wins against New Zealand and India, the two best test sides in the previous championship.
Stokes’ perseverance was highlighted beautifully in his newest documentary, “Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes,” and this came to fruition as his aggressive batting led to him scoring a century with three sixes in an innings victory over South Africa in the second test of the series.
With Ben Foakes scoring an unbeaten century in a scintillating partnership with his captain, Bazball seemed an unbeatable style of play. The frailties of the new ethos were however shown in a crushing defeat to South Africa in the first test. England barely scrapped to 300 runs across two innings, with Ollie Pope’s 73 the only positive for England’s batting.
England barely scrapped to 300 runs across two innings, with Ollie Pope’s 73 the only positive for England’s batting
To lose so convincingly, especially after South Africa’s captain Dean Elgar had degraded ‘Bazball’ in the media, would have raised questions of its effectiveness over a whole test match.
As the One Day side has shown though, consistently positive cricket and counter attacking batting will come out on top, even amidst crushing and potentially embarrassing defeats.
England’s incredibly woeful 2021 had already opened them up to a lot of embarrassment and after impressive victories over New Zealand and India, one poor display against South Africa would not mute ‘Bazball.’
The win against the Proteas in the second test match certainly did speak volumes and more of the same will be expected in the series decider at the Oval.
