Geoffrey Boycott’s invaluable response to his side’s Ashes capitulation on day three at Lord’s as England fans turn to Bazball
- Bazball has redefined English cricket
- Attacking cricket doesn’t work against the Aussies though
- English fans are beginning to question its effectiveness
The Bazball style of cricket that has served England so well over the past 18 months may have created a popularity problem with fans beginning to turn against it.
Australia have a chance to mount an imposing chase in the fourth innings and push for a 2-0 lead in the Ashes series after England’s Bazball approach exploded in their faces at Lord’s.
Bazball is a colloquial cricketing term first coined by sports journalists and bloggers during last year’s England cricket season, referring to the style of play of test matches.
It was developed following the appointments of Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum as Test cricket head coach and current skipper Ben Stokes.
Bazball’s style and mindset is to attack whether you’re batting or in the field.
England’s Geoffrey Boycott covers his face hoping he can’t see a shot from Harry Brook that cost him his wicket for 50
England’s Harry Brook looks more like he’s playing for the New York Yankees as he finishes a la Bazball style to slog one straight to Pat Cummins and lose his wicket
And it grew in popularity significantly as results moved in the English direction. However, this Ashes test series is all falling apart.
In what always loomed as a crucial day for both the second Test and the entire Ashes series, Australia went to stumps 2-130 and led by 221 as rain stopped play.
And while Australia did well to navigate bleak conditions with Usman Khawaja’s unbeaten 58 ahead, England’s blows were largely self-inflicted.
Legendary English cricketer and well-known announcer, Geoffrey Boycott, whose style of play was the complete opposite of Bazball’s, gave it his all, as this footage suggests during day three of the Lord’s Test.
In one shot he covers his face after an attempted stroke, in another he just looks puzzled as he tries to describe the shot with friends. The latter was after Harry Brook’s choice of bat.
It eventually led to his downfall when he attempted to flatten a Mitchell Starc pitch via offside, resulting in a flyout to Cummins at cover.
Boycott isn’t the only one being exacerbated by the England play, with many fans now calling for Bazball’s death.
‘Embarrassing from England. Shame on Brook, who probably invested untold amounts of money and time in his coaching as a young player to get him through the pro ranks, to be effectively told to hit like a village runner,” one fan tweeted.
“Bazball is past its prime,” wrote another.
Boycott still marveled at how his fellow Yorkshireman, Harry Brook, played a shot that cost him his wicket
England is a meme of a cricket team. They are easy to digest, they are unapologetic and they lose,” added another.
“They may be in the entertainment business, but they’re not in the winning business,” another wrote.
“Bazball is rubbish against good bowling,” claimed another.
“It’s Bazball vs Corleone Cricket. While England predict how they will play, swear allegiance to their tactics, give up their team early and tell us what the coach says, Australia never let anyone outside the family know what we think,” another posted.
“Bazball is like World Series Cricket in that it is relentlessly portrayed (by those who have benefited from it) as having saved cricket when, in fact, cricket didn’t need to be saved.”
England will try to chase what lies ahead for them as they have refused to play for a draw under Brendon McCullum.
“We’ve seen crazy things with this line-up over the last year,” assistant coach Jeetan Patel said on Friday.
“This team is about breaking records, they want to sell ground.”
But Australia will believe they can set a target big enough to make Friday morning’s collapse series-defining.