Photo by Mark Stuckey on Unsplash
In the summer of 2022, England would forge a new path in their quest to revive Test cricket in the country. Detached from the sacred values held dear by the Test traditionalists, Ben Stokes, Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum, and Robert Key introduced a new style of cricket that stormed into the consciousness of England’s fans – ‘Bazball’. With a bold vision and a brave new world at their feet, England now have the task of healing past wounds as well as the opportunity to create a legacy
‘Bazball’. What is ‘Bazball’?
Touted by the media and cricket journalists as the ‘next big thing’ in Test cricket, ‘Bazball’ has been the talk of the cricketing town for the last couple of years. First captivating English crowds in the summer of 2022, ‘Bazball’ has since produced some of English cricket’s, and indeed world cricket’s, finest Test victories.
In doing so, this has led to increased chatter around Test cricket, the format long regarded as the ‘dinosaur’ of the sport.
While the advent of ‘Bazball’ has done wonders for creating positive conversations around the significance of Test cricket in an era which will undoubtedly be remembered for the boom in franchise T20 cricket, understanding the nuances of ‘Bazball’ itself is a ride all its own.
Is it real or is it a hoax? Is it really the ‘next big thing’ in Test cricket, or just an aggressive brand of cricket that we have occasionally seen in the past but hyped up with a catchy moniker?
Or, is there more to it than just whacking a bucket load of 4s and 6s, going at close to 5 runs an over, enterprising declarations, and funky fields? Is it actually about a fundamental psychological shift in mentality and a lesson in how a team can be picked, led, nurtured, and transformed?
And more importantly, is it actually any good?
In ‘Part 1’ of this 4-part series, I will explore the origins of ‘Bazball’ and begin to deconstruct how its torchbearers, Ben Stokes and Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum, have imprinted their values and vision onto this new era of English Men’s Test cricket.
A call to action, and a cry for what we know as 'Bazball' today
Following the end of Joe Root’s and Chris Silverwood’s time in charge, a captain-coach axis which yielded a painful statistic of 1 win in 17 Tests, it was pretty clear English Test cricket needed a shake up.
As has generally been the case with English Men’s cricket in the recent past, an abysmal Ashes tour of Australia proved to be a rude awakening. This time in 2021/22, England’s series loss Down Under came as a culmination of a torrid year and a half in Test cricket in general. Appearing spiritless and lethargic, Root’s team narrowly avoided yet another whitewash at the hands of a new magnificent Australian XI, this time led by Pat Cummins.
While this had become par for the course for England in recent away Ashes series (with the exception of the valiant efforts of Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower in 2010/11), this time there seemed to be a greater vitriol in the opinions voiced by pundits, fans, and ex-players. From an England fan’s viewpoint it seemed as though it was no longer just a case of ‘our players are just not as good compared with Australia’s in their home conditions’, but more a case of ‘our players seem to be too timid to even try and challenge the opposition’.
This all came to a head when England followed up their near Ashes whitewash with a series loss to the West Indies just a few months later in 2022.
Something HAD to change.
A team plays in their captain's image and is an extension of the leadership group
In my time watching cricket, any team that has taken the field has usually been a reflection of its captain. And the most successful teams have often played in the image of its leadership group and their values.
Australia circa 1999-2003, led by Steve Waugh, were tough as hell and would fight until the only possible outcome of a game was a win for Australia (and at worst a draw); many would say these were the hallmark traits synonymous with Waugh himself.
The criminally underrated South African team of 2007-2014, helmed by the equally criminally underrated Graeme Smith, were disciplined, gritty, clinical, and adaptable. Smith imbued the ‘ProteaFire’ spirit into the team which birthed a resilient attitude especially on away tours.
And as someone whose closed-face batting set up and awkward technique became a regular talking point, he single-handedly showed that adaptability can breed success in the Test arena where raw talent alone may not.
In more recent times Virat Kohli’s India, who reached their peak in the Test game between 2018 and 2021, was the embodiment of ‘not taking nonsense from anyone’. This ruthlessness helped India evolve from a respectable team with individual Test legends (Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, and VVS Laxman) that showed fleeting glimpses of dominance abroad into a team with a real competitive edge away from the subcontinent.
Proof of this includes the historical back-to-back series wins in Australia (2018/19 and 2020/21) as well as the 2-1 series lead India held in England in 2021 until the tour was cut short following a COVID-19 outbreak.
The same qualities that made Root a stalwart with the bat may have held him back as 'the captain'
From a distance, Root has appeared to be mild-mannered, diplomatic, and verbally non-combative, be it as captain or simply one of the XI. And in his time in charge, the team that took the field also felt like it embodied these qualities.
That is not to say for one moment that these are negative traits and a captain cannot succeed if they exhibit these qualities. I firmly believe these characteristics are precisely what has helped Root excel so dramatically with the bat in a myriad of conditions (he is easily England’s greatest ever all-round Test batter and truly a top 10 all-time batter in my mind). His calmness, level-headedness, and apparent ability to not get drawn into unnecessary verbal jousts have been a sight for sore eyes in this modern era of aggression.
It is worth remembering that Root has been at the helm when England have claimed some of their greatest wins, including series wins in Sri Lanka in 2018 and South Africa in 2019/20. He was also captain when England claimed a Test at Chennai during the 2021 tour to India. While only a single Test we must remember that, as of July 2024, India have only lost 4 Test matches in total at home since the 2012/13 series loss to England. All things considered, this was truly a rare and remarkable achievement.
And statistically, he ended his captaincy tenure with the most wins (27) for any English Men’s Test captain – a simply incredible feat.
So why did Joe Root receive so much criticism during his captaincy tenure?
The style of Test cricket pioneered by other leaders during Root's captaincy era was uncompromising, and executed with shrewdness
Comparison is the thief of joy.
Yet, in some cases it can be a valuable exercise to decipher where one player may have succeeded when another did not within a given era. As purely a fan I found it quite interesting to examine Root’s captaincy in this way.
When lined up against some of his contemporaries from the most successful Test teams, Root’s natural captaincy persona was something that, on occasion, perhaps lacked a layer of tactical intensity and proactivity that England needed in the ‘hard-nosed’ Test environment it found itself in.
What do I mean by ‘hard-nosed’?
During much of the same time period as Root’s captaincy tenure, Australia was led by Steven Smith, a captain with that ever so Australian winning mentality. The Australian way of playing cricket is stuff of folklore and the cricketing world has always appeared to play ‘chase up’ with them.
And after Smith came Tim Paine, someone who has never shied away from speaking his mind to players on-field or in the media.
India had the fiery Virat Kohli, a man characterised by resilience, competitiveness, and pugnaciousness, particularly on tours away from home where these traits raged unabated in the face of verbal hostility. Just think of his now famous “60 overs should feel like hell for them out there” line during the 2021 Lord’s Test against Joe Root’s England.
For South Africa there was Faf du Plessis. This was a man who not only played Test cricket in that quintessentially tough South African spirit, but someone who also had to constantly manage and reconcile issues surrounding the divisive quota system with the South African Cricket Board, something that has plagued cricket in the Rainbow Nation since their reintroduction into world cricket.
I would imagine routinely being met with these off pitch obstacles hardened du Plessis and further prepared him for the eventual battle on the field.
Root’s team lacked a ruggedness and dynamism that other top Test nations did not
Dynamism is the common thread that tied Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, and Faf du Plessis together as captains. In other words, there was an aggressive streak they could invoke from their teams when needed.
Now, that is not to say aggression and feistiness is the gold standard for captaincy. And with the number of total Test wins Root has in the locker I am sure he would rightly let you know this.
Kane Williamson, New Zealand’s captain during Root’s reign and winner of the inaugural World Test Championship Final in 2021, would also tell you that aggression, histrionics, and showmanship are overrated.
Root led his England outfit to their fair share of victories, no doubt. But the same team also let many an opportunity slip through their fingers due to the scarcely seen dynamism.
The most notable example of this was the Lord’s Test against Kane Williamson’s New Zealand in 2021 where England appeared to not even entertain the idea of chasing 273 in the 4th innings, for which Root and the England team received heavy criticism. To the fans on the outside, the choice to not even try to go for a win felt like a collective and conservative decision.
While this was just one instance, this cautious mentality coupled with a lack of belief in successfully chasing down a potentially attainable total was becoming more and more apparent to spectators.
Chess pieces on a chessboard, used as an analogy to describe the different facets a Test cricket captain must consider
Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash
Root’s batting genius, but also self-acknowledged tactical shortcomings, started to loom large on his team
Of the young players that came into the England Test set up in 2018 and 2019, the batting contingent regularly appeared unsure of themselves. Players such as Dominic Sibley, Ollie Pope, and Rory Burns never appeared settled.
Maybe this was in part due to Joe Root’s insanely “God-tier” form in which he was seemingly getting a 100 or 200 every time you checked the scorecard. There were times where it felt to those watching on that Root’s brilliance with the blade exuded an energy that said “lads, just stay with me and support me and I will get all the runs” without actually saying it. And during Root’s purple patch between 2020/21 to 2022, could the other batters have felt a little inadequate?
Possibly.
But it was in the field where Root was often most criticised due to his conservative tactics. Test cricket can sometimes appear to be like a game of chess with decisions and tactics requiring pinpoint accuracy, and their execution needing to be at the right time.
For many, this was where Root’s captaincy suffered the most.
While as a captain he was not blessed to have a spinner of Shane Warne’s, Muttiah Muralitharan’s, or even Graeme Swann’s ilk, there were times pundits felt Root turned to spin as an “afterthought”. Instead, he often prioritised the control of runs and economy first through the use of proven veterans such as James Anderson, Stuart Broad, and Chris Woakes.
Notably, Root and the England team were questioned over the use of, or overuse of, Jofra Archer given his exhilarating pace and wicket-taking potential – something that became a bright light in an England team that was sustaining regular losses. Though Root did not feel so, some felt this potentially exacerbated Archer’s longstanding elbow woes which effectively ruled him out of most forms of cricket in the last few years.
Frustratingly for England fans, Root often openly admitted to making mistakes and devising incorrect tactical plans when speaking during post-match interviews and press conferences. While this level of honesty is refreshing and seldom seen as readily as this from elite sportspeople, the frequency with which Root was admitting his errors was increasing.
The Lord's Test against India in 2021: a resounding defeat which questioned Root's ruthlessness and sense of occasion as a leader
Similar to the previously mentioned Test against New Zealand in 2021, another example of a puzzling tactical display came during the Lord’s Test against India that same summer.
With India on the ropes at 209-8 in the 3rd innings, and a lead of only 182, Root and England appeared to abandon the tried and tested ploy they had used to pick up the first 8 wickets. Instead, they favoured a short ball barrage to numbers 10 and 11, Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, respectively.
This appeared to be in response to a previous passage of play in the game where Bumrah had bowled a hostile over to James Anderson. However, what resulted was a reckless display of cricket – almost schoolboy-like – where a personal vendetta trumped the calm tactical nous that was needed to wrap up a Test win that was there for the taking.
Shami (56*) and Bumrah (34*) would end up extending India’s lead to 271, before India skittled England for just 120 to secure a 151-run win in the dying minutes of Day 5.
With such instances like this dotted throughout Root’s time as captain, it perhaps is not a far cry to think that these tactical blunders were compounded every time something like this happened. On a more systemic level, the effect of losses in this manner was likely becoming engrained deeper and deeper within the psyche of the England Test team as a whole.
England needed a candid appraisal of themselves. And moving forward, they needed a cutting edge. A new mantra. A new outlook on the longest form of the game.
Enter England’s talisman and man for the big occasions, Ben Stokes, former Blackcap skipper and Kiwi legend, Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum, and the mastermind behind it all, Robert ‘Bob’ Key, who assumed the role of managing director of English Men’s cricket in April 2022.
The Summer of ‘22: Ben, ‘Baz’, and Bob take over
Ben Stokes is renowned for his ‘never say die’ attitude and his incredible ability to believe so strongly in himself that he, alone, can change the course of a game. Just think back to the final of the 2019 50-over World Cup versus New Zealand and the Headingley Test versus Australia in the 2019 Ashes series as the epitome of this.
However, I think the greatest trait of Stokes that has been introduced into the DNA of ‘Bazball’ is one of the mind.
Stokes’ and McCullum’s emotional intelligence is the cornerstone of ‘Bazball’
It has been well documented that Ben Stokes has not had the most straightforward of paths to the top.
His formative years were characterised by a seemingly volatile underbelly which could erupt at any given moment (such as the Bristol brawl of 2017, and being sent home from a tour of the Caribbean in 2014 for punching a locker). He also bowled that over against Carlos Brathwaite in the final of the 2016 T20 World Cup where he conceded 4 consecutive sixes, leading to England effectively losing the game in mere moments.
On a more personal level off the field, Stokes has openly discussed his battle with mental health issues (captured powerfully in the must-watch 2022 Amazon documentary ‘Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes’) and his close relationship with his late father, Gerard, who passed away in 2020 after a battle with brain cancer.
Yet, through all of this Stokes has endured. He has rebuilt himself. His performances, though not always consistent, have generally become stronger and more influential in the wake of his past trials and tribulations.
Why has this been the case? To me, it is down to perhaps his greatest strength: emotional intelligence.
Developed and refined through his formative years and struggles, I strongly believe the effect his emotional intelligence has had in galvanizing his new team has been undeniable. And make no mistake, this current England Test team is Ben Stokes’ team.
Some might feel that off-field incidents are overhyped and overemphasised in sport. But I do not. Ultimately sportspeople are people first. And when given the freedom to express themselves, players will unquestionably inject some of their essence into their teams.
Stokes was no different.
It was clear from the type of character England Men’s Test cricket was now choosing to stand behind that things were going to be different. This was very clearly the backing of a unique vision a single player had to take their nation forward. And for the England fans, this was a definitive signal that the new era of Test cricket they would witness in their nation was one which would be adventurous and audacious, much in the same vein as Stokes himself.
In this venture, Ben Stokes found in Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum a kindred spirit and someone whose values, approach to life, and mantra aligned with his own – a match made possible by the ever forward thinking Robert Key.
Figure 1. The Tangible Tenets of ‘Bazball’
So, what is 'Bazball'?
In a peculiar turn of events, the term ‘Bazball’ was included in the Collins Dictionary in late 2023, and was defined as “a style of test cricket in which the batting side attempts to gain the initiative by playing in a highly aggressive manner”.
While this does capture the overwhelming vibe of ‘Bazball’, I feel like this still only tells part of the story.
On the surface ‘Bazball’ can be crystallised into a few tangible traits that viewers can clearly see and hear in the stands or from their living rooms (Figure 1):
- Emotional intelligence
- Self-belief
- A “how do we win from here?” mentality
- Proactivity
- Positivity and aggression
These all may seem simple enough to adopt, particularly in a game where the winner is decided by who scores the most runs or prevents the opposition from doing so the soonest.
Yet, these qualities often can be elusive given sport in its very nature is characterised by fleeting moments of success flanked by failures.
In its essence, ‘Bazball’ represents a fundamental psychological and mental shift in how the captain, the team, and the establishment approaches Test cricket. ‘Bazball’ is an abandonment of fear. Abandonment of the fear of failure. Abandonment of the fear of having to look over your shoulder for the next ‘cab off the rank’. And an abandonment of the fear of losing.
From everything we have been told since the summer of 2022, for the players the only sentiments that are allowed are ones of positivity no matter the situation. This means championing one another when form is against you and believing the improbable (and at times even the impossible) is possible.
‘Bazball’ has not sought to overhaul the team’s playing personnel, but rather, its values
This new era of England Men’s Test cricket has showcased to the world how deep introspection as a collective can be transformative. And the results, both on and off the field, have been there for all to see.
Given the understandable excitement of a new and laid back regime, players from the ‘Bazball’ environment have not been shy about describing the ambience that now permeates within the changing rooms. Though still in its infancy, ‘Bazball’ has exuded plenty of bombast to go hand in hand with the fearlessness that is now firmly engrained within this team.
Furthermore, if and when there is a bad day, there seems to be a legitimately warm embrace from the coach and captain to walk back to.
But what was the spark that ignited this new fire?
As mentioned before, I am a firm believer that the team is an extension of its captain, particularly in the Test format. In Stokes, England has leveraged a man with a very authentic outlook on both cricket and life, something likely cultivated through his tough initiation into world cricket and the hardships he has personally experienced.
Ultimately, this has manifested in a sense of togetherness, no matter what, which previously seemed missing.
Take, for example, the very public backing of Ollie Pope to be his number 3 despite his wildly inconsistent returns with the bat and the unconditional support for Zak Crawley through all his batting woes. Or more recently, the unwavering on-field confidence shown in the young and inexperienced spin trio of Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, and Rehan Ahmed during the 2024 Test tour of India.
In fact, members of the team that often wilted during the Silverwood-Root era have blossomed in the first chapter of the ‘Bazball’ era – Zak Crawley, Jonny Bairstow, and Ollie Pope to name a few.
Among the bowlers, the evergreen and seemingly ever-present James Anderson and Stuart Broad continued to spearhead the bowling attack until their recent retirements. Except this time, economy was not the name of their game as had been the case for so many years. Only wickets. And with support from Chris Woakes, Ollie Robinson, Matt Potts, Josh Tongue, and now Gus Atkinson, all now performing under the tactical guidance of Ben Stokes, a once cautious seam attack now looked an entirely new beast.
And of course, who can forget England’s rock and ‘Mr. Reliable’, Joe Root.
Outwardly, this seems like an epic environment to bring out the best in the players. And at first glance, this sort of ideology is something often associated with the most successful sportspeople and heroes in real life and pop culture. Tales of people achieving greatness after being liberated from their fears.
However, when all is said and done, cricket is a sport. And regardless of what ‘Bazball’ may want to have you believe, it is a numbers game in large part. Just ask the fans. While we all want to be entertained, we also want our favourite players to get runs and wickets, and our teams to win.
As things stand right now with the English cricketing summer of 2024 upon us, ‘Bazball’ sits in a somewhat precarious position.
Next time...
In ‘Part 2’ of this feature series, I will provide my thoughts on how ‘Bazball’ has shaped up since its inception by delving into some of the numbers. Stokes, McCullum, and some of ‘Bazball’s key players have been vocal about the importance of “entertaining”, occasionally at the expense of winning, in the hopes it can help revive Test cricket.
While this is a noble stance, can ‘Bazball’ in its present iteration legitimately stand the test (no pun intended) of time if winning is an afterthought? And more pertinently will the primary target audience of this entertainment, the English fans, be willing to settle in for the long haul and watch a brand of cricket that unquestionably thrills but does not win as many big series as it could?
Figure icon attributions:
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DISCLAIMER
The posts published on this blog are intended simply to provide some food for thought for fellow cricket fans across the world. This is a place which respects and enjoys all cricketers from all nations and, as such, does NOT aim to solely vilify any specific person or team.
Differing opinions and lively debates are more than welcome. However, personal attacks and abuse of any kind will NOT be tolerated here.
Thanks for your understanding.
Impressive analysis. Looking forward to the next part…
Looking forward to part 2 😀
I never heard of bazball. Your article was quite insightful. Looking forward to the second part.