England’s men’s team is going into a big summer of cricket in a bullish and confident mood characterised by their swashbuckling style of play known as ‘Bazball’.
Starting on Friday, the home team will begin the five-match Ashes 2023 series with a game at Edgbaston. And they are looking to deprive Australia of the prized urn trophy.
The tourists have a slightly higher test world ranking than England and have also recently beaten India to become the World Test Champions. But with home advantage and a bold new approach, could this be victory number 33 for the home side?
Follow our sport’s coverage here but keep reading for your guide to Bazball, in layman’s terms.
What is Bazball?
For the completely casual cricket fan it’s worth pointing out that, despite what the autocorrect on my keyboard might think, this has nothing to do with the US sport of baseball!
The term was actually coined by an ESPN reporter in respect of Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum, who was appointed England test cricket head coach last year.
Along with England captain Ben Stokes and managing director Rob Key, McCullum has helped shape a revolution in what is as much a mindset as a tactical style.
As a player, McCullum captained New Zealand with an attacking approach and his appointment was aimed at reversing the fortunes of England who had been on a losing run in test cricket.
Test cricket is traditionally played at a slower pace but McCullum encouraged batters to channel the urgency of one-day and Twenty20 cricket into the longer form.
Former captain Eoin Morgan said: "What England have proved this year [2022] is that you can play Test cricket in that [Twenty20] fashion.
“It’s made for unbelievable entertainment. It’s created a new level of interest and proved that you don’t have to play Test cricket one way, particularly as a batter, which for, I suppose the past 150 years, has always been one way."
Australia's way of playing the #Bazball
— Nirmal Jyothi (@majornirmal) June 16, 2023
Aim for the ball 😀#ENGvsAUS #Ashespic.twitter.com/6WNqJ2DWcd
The effect was shown in December when England played Pakistan in Rawalpindi knowing they would have a tough job bowling out the home batsman and needed all the time possible. Batting first, England aimed to score 900 runs, what they thought would be good enough for victory, in just 150 overs by playing with an all-out attack. They eventually scored 921 in 136, an even better rate. And this allowed more time for bowling, with all of Pakistan’s men falling for 847. England won convincingly in tough away territory where Australia had previously drawn.
There have also been changes in mentality. Cricket writer Chris Stocks said Bazball champions: A less reflective environment, no negative chat, a win-at-all-costs mentality, no fear of failure, praise – even for the little things, simplicity of message, embracing mental freedom and fun.
There have also been changes to fielding and bowling to gain an attacking advantage.
Business Insider said: “Attacking all the time is the key, but not attacking blindly is the mantra.”
What impact has Bazball had on the England team?
Bazball 🌪️🌪️ pic.twitter.com/bI6PKchaGC
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 16, 2023
Already the style has achieved results with England winning all four matches they played in 2022 while chasing a run total to down India and New Zealand. There was also the record-setting game against Pakistan.
Ben Stokes said: “The message was just to run into the fear of what the game was rather than standstill or back away from it…I’ll say it quite simply: we were either winning this game or losing it. That was the mentality that we wanted all the batters coming in to have…It’s obviously paid off.”
How could they fare in the ashes? When asked about Bazball, Australian batsman Steve Smith said in response: “They haven’t come up against us yet."
