Bazball was a heavily used word around the world until Australia came knocking. Another Ashes, another woeful story of how England continues to struggle and unless there is a miracle for England, the Ashes would continue to have Australia’s stamp pasted away on cricket’s most controversial urn.
Now an obvious question that rises is that what went wrong for a concept like Bazball that was all glam before Ashes started? How did the skeleton come out and why does it feel like that even the skeleton is being jarred with utmost force?
Well, the answer is simple and that is a blend of arrogance and over-confidence. Bazball felt alright against South Africa because they were a struggling team already. However, if we keep India’s collapse in the second innings in that isolated Test match aside, then it wasn’t that effective against India either.
So is Bazball only meant to be used as a scaremongering technique? The answer points sharply at yes and unless there is more flesh and bones to the concept of playing Test cricket aggressively, England would continue to find themselves in the kerfuffle.
England was so adamant that Bazball would leave Australia splooting on the ground that they didn’t even bother to try and plot an alternative and now that bazball isn’t working out, they are simply oyt of ideas of how can Australia be stopped?
Bazball has also blurred the lines between where England needed to simply take a backseat and allow Australia to run through their course of the storm and then accordingly craft a response. Sadly, England has been more impulsive, acting like kids in front of a seasoned team of mercenaries who is only out there sniffing blood.
The concept of Bazball is also backfiring because Australia’s bowling is one of the finest Test bowling quartets in the world. Trying to attack them relentlessly is a fool’s pipe dream and somehow England, spurred by the concept of playing Bazball, they are not even bothered to assess the situation and play accordingly.
It isn’t just Australia though who have found a crack to Bazball. India also brought out their big guns to fire at the loose ribs and somehow England continues to produce what Baz, the man whom we know as the epitome of aggressive cricket in Test, must have said rudderless cricket.
