Bazball is no magic formula, it’s another cheery novelty – the idea of the quick fix will always seduce lovers of the long gameI got a little teary the other night. It’s a really stupid story. You know that famous scene in Coronation Street when Hilda Ogden comes home from the funeral and there’s a parcel of Stan’s belongings on the table, and she opens Stan’s glasses case and suddenly, despite herself, she starts to weep uncontrollably? Well, it was like that, except rather than a dead husband I was mourning an era of English Test cricket. And instead of a pair of glasses, it was an interview with Graeme Swann on the Rig Biz sports comedy podcast.The bulk of...
Only one other side has taken all 60 wickets in a three-Test series in Pakistan –and Sri Lanka had Muttiah MuralitharanWhen cricket lovers discuss this new England, they rave about the batting. So fearless! Five an over! All day long! Sometimes even seven! And everybody at it (except Ben Foakes, the designated driver). If fast scoring was all Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum had brought us, it would be quite something. But they would not have won nine Tests out of 10.The second most exciting thing about this new era, and perhaps the most significant, is that England keep bowling their opponents out. Whether they’re facing New Zealand, India, South Africa or Pakistan, every time Stokes’s England take the field,...
To say poor scores are acceptable is to judge him differently to every opening batter who has ever been selected for EnglandAfter the hammering England took against a well-organised and talented South Africa side, it would be easy to jump on the bandwagon and pour criticism on the players and their approach. Personally I commend Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes for challenging convention since taking over as coach and captain of the Test team, which desperately needed a shot in the arm.They have said from the start that it will be an up‑and‑down ride, that bumps in the road such as the defeat by South Africa last week are part of the process. However, there are clearly some legitimate questions...
England’s head coach may not like the term, but the phenomenon is a reflection of the times in which we liveApparently Brendon McCullum hates the term “Bazball”. This is, of course, exactly as it should be. One of the cardinal rules of Bazball, perhaps even its defining motif, is that no established narrative must be allowed to stand unchallenged. Anything you think you know about Bazball is wrong. Everything ever spoken about it has been wrong. Bazball is about making up your own rationale as you go, and so any attempt to pin it down, to define it or even name it, must necessarily be doomed to failure. Continue reading...
England still have a frail top order and an unbalanced attack but this team do not need to dwell on failings from the pastShortly after half past five a wild and barbarous noise consumed Headingley, the sort that brings local residents to their windows and the day-trippers in the hospitality boxes streaming out on to the balconies.A few of the dozing members in the pavilion may even have been stirred from their evening slumbers. Out in the middle Stuart Broad was pumping his arms like a preacher. England’s slip cordon were clapping in time, beating out a fearsome tribal rhythm. Continue reading...