So what is ‘Bazball’ and why is it working for England in the Test Matches?
It’s very important to set up a team culture from the top and Brendan ‘Baz’ McCullum has seemingly managed to achieve this in a very short period of time with brilliant results with his aggressive style of play. The culture has been embraced and backed up by the captain Ben Stokes, who leads by example to show to the team that he will be the one to take it on and make it easier for the whole team to follow. There is clearly some of Stokes’ influence in the culture too and it’s obvious he is in complete charge on the field.
The whole team seems to have adopted the mindset and adapted to the same style of play without any second thoughts and are being successful because of it. If you speak from the players point of view, this style has changed the old English Test mentality with a modern-day, aggressive approach which is second nature to most of the players as they are playing so much short-format cricket around the world these days. They don’t have to change much when it comes to Test cricket and carry on playing with their natural instincts. A batsman naturally wants to get runs and if they are given the license to get those runs with this aggressive style of play then it means they don’t have any doubts in their mind. We have even seen the likes of Lees and Crawley up their shot-playing from a place of relative watchfulness (in Lees’ case) and a run of poor form (in Crawley’s). To continue to have the backing to go out and play aggressively in these circumstances is a breath of fresh air for this side. Players like former captain Joe Root and his Yorkshire team-mate Jonny Bairstow are revelling in this new-found freedom.
Our mind begin to have doubts if we have conflicts in our thoughts, but if you are given a plan to play with an aggressive style and your whole team – including your captain – is doing the same, then it replaces these doubts and reduces the pressure which Test Match cricket brings with it. The negative emotions that pressure can bring are replaced by the positivity of hitting the ball as hard as you can and playing with complete freedom – it’s exciting to watch and hugely enjoyable as a player. You can see all of that in their body language and the way they all have changed their style of play – they don’t seem to care what anyone says or thinks. Stokes has been described as ‘reckless’ at times this summer, but collectively the team has found a way to be aggressive but play quality cricket shots and chase down hefty fourth innings totals with ease.
It was interesting to hear India’s captain Jasprit Bumrah comment in his post-match interview that he hadn’t heard of ‘Bazball’, but he commended England’s approach and lamented the fact that his team could not execute their own plans in the match. India play aggressive Test cricket, epitomised by the likes of Pant and Kohli, with a fearsome fast bowling attack to back them up, yet they had no answer to this new-look England who chased down a record 4th innings total.
England’s style is affecting other teams – now the bowlers have doubts about where to bowl when they are going back to their bowling marks. Is Joe Root going to reverse ramp me for 6 over third man? Doubts about their line and lengths will come into play, which makes it difficult for them to keep their basics right and keep bowling a good line and length. It was sometimes easier for the fast bowlers coming to the UK as they knew the ball would swing and the batters will struggle (as we saw in the 1st T20 where India dominated), but now the opposition’s style of play is questioning everything and they have to come up with a different plan of action.
Bazball has brought great excitement and renewed energy into Test cricket and now people all over the world have started enjoying watching Test cricket all over again. It’s like white ball cricket spread over a 5 day period, but with a constant test of the mental, technical, physical and tactical resilience of all the players. Will other countries follow suit and try to counter this? Is it is the best way forward not only for England but the rest of world cricket as well? This culture and approach will allow players to transition from T20 and other short format cricket more easily, if they don’t have to adopt a different style of play.