What is Bazball in cricket? Bazball is a fresh aggressive approach coined for England’s new Test coach, Brendon McCullum, whose nickname is ‘Baz.’
Why are we discussing Bazball in cricket in 2022?
Since captain Ben Stokes & McCullum took over, England cricket team’s record in Test match format has been astonishing: WWWWLWWWWW. This includes seven wins at home against New Zealand, India, & South Africa and 3 away wins in Pakistan. The manner of victory has been even more mind boggling—An innings victory and six wins with 5 wickets or more.
When you type ‘Bazball’ in Google Trends, you get this image below. With England’s astonishing consecutive fourth innings chases in Test match cricket, especially with the 378 against India, no wonder that interest in this term has really, really piqued in the last few days.
But what in the world is Bazball? Can someone be Bazballing? Could you become a Bazballer? Is it a noun, verb, adjective, or all of the above?
Don’t worry, be happy.
Today, we will help you out and try to answer this exact answer—The who, what, where, when, and how of Bazball!
While writing this unofficially official definition of Bazball, we took inspiration from the Merriam-Webster dictionary. We make an honest attempt here to write this definition similar dictionary format—part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.), phonetic pronunciation, variants, examples, and more!
Bazball noun | b-aa-zzz-böl variants: Bazballing, Bazballer, Bazballed, The Bazball Effect 1. The purpose and intent of Bazball is to completely annihilate the opposition, abruptly change the tide of a game, and bring an uneasy calm before a surprising storm, all without sacrificing the inner innocence and amusement of a three-year-old child. 1b. Note, the prerequisite of Bazballing is the existence of a Bairstow and the ability to display aggression without displaying aggression. 1c. The Bazball Effect is largely a cricketing phenomenon but is not limited to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
So, in simple terms, what is Bazball? Brave, Brash, and lots of Bairstow.
11 Examples of Bazball
England selecting Rob Key, a former English cricketer and commentator with zero administrative experience, as the Managing Director of the English Cricket Team and choosing Brendon McCullum (zero first-class coaching experience) as the head coach of the England Test team.
England captain Ben Stokes declaring on Day 1 with a score of 393/8 on a flat deck with Joe Root still 118*
Virat Kohli sledging Jonny Bairstow to wake up the sleeping beast
Joe Root being Joe Root (737 runs, 2 wickets, and player of series vs India. Now at 10458 runs and 28 Test centuries)
Different Interpretations of the Bazball
Well, don’t take my word for it. Every word has several interpretations based on the circumstance. Here are three of my favorite interpretations of Bazball.
1. The Eagle (Hindi)
In the Indian language of Hindi, Baaz means Eagle—a majestic bird that hunts its prey. Highly focused, always gets to the target.
Cannot think of a better metaphor for Bazball to be honest. The Baz meaning in Hindi aptly describes the true essence of Bazball.
2. Sanjay Manjrekar on Rishabh Pant
Well, is Bazball an original creation? The first time that cricket has experienced this feeling?
No, definitely not. We have seen this before.
As Sanjay Manjrekar states, we don’t need to look any further than Rishabh Pant.
So what’s Bazball? Well, it’s how Rishabh Pant has been playing in his last 31 Tests.
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) July 7, 2022
3. Can You Use It in a Sentence?
In a Spelling Bee, a contestant can ask for usage in a sentence to further understand the word. Our next example doubles up as an interpretation and also satisfies the “Can You Use It in a Sentence?” segment (Don’t know what I am referring to? Watch this hilarious Jimmy Kimmel Spelling Bee segment).
There have been several interpretations of Bazball floating around on the internet, but my favorite by far, has been Andrew Fidel Fernando’s interpretation. Here is an excerpt:
“When a fielder sledges you and you sledge them back with runs. That’s Bazball. When you are so intent on showing respect to the opposition’s bowlers you walk down the track, clear your front leg, and respect them repeatedly into the sightscreen. That’s Bazball. When an old lady needs help crossing the street, but instead of walking her across you fire her from a cannon all the way into her house. Definitely Bazball…When something has been around for a while, but the rebranding is so strong it seems futuile to resist…perhaps this is also Bazball?
Origins and History of Bazball
Brendon McCullum, affectionately known as Baz, has always been in the forefront of the media.
Whether as a swashbuckling wicketkeeper back in 2002, the unofficial launcher of the Indian Premier League with his 158*, captain supreme of New Zealand’s golden run to the 2015 ODI World Cup Final, Baz has always been there. Rejuvenating Eoin Morgan’s men to ODI overhaul, inventing the BMacDilscoop, retiring on a high with the fastest Test hundred, coaching Trinbago Knight Riders to unbeaten glory, or note-taking KKR’s way out of IPL Playoffs, McCullum is a trendsetter.
But this time, it’s different. Coaching T20s? Fine, but Test matches? Baz has no experience. Questions were tossed. The England cricket team had only won one match in their last 17 Tests. How could they possibly bounce back?
They didn’t just bounce back. They Bazzed back. Whatever that means.
Four wins in four Test matches. Record chases of 250+. They have now brushed aside both of the finalists in the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship, New Zealand and India. The Rob Key-Brendon McCullum-Ben Stokes partnership has somehow swayed a magic wand over England and rejuvenated the English fans’ hopes in Test cricket
England are no longer the good guys of world cricket. They are, now the Baz boys….
Brendon McCullum In His Own Words
Here are some snippets of Brendon McCullum from an interview after a 3-0 win over his home nation, New Zealand. When asked about emotion, clarity, keeping it simple, and his general coaching style, he said,
“I try to quieten down some of the noise…Trying to get these guys closer together and try for them to understand their game…give them as much confidence as I can…we can get caught up in a fear of failure…..and I don’t know what Bazball is…don’t know where it came from..[on Jonny] .Go out there and just be yourself. Have your moment…Try to inspire the next generation of Test cricket”
– Brendon McCullum
This has already inspired the likes of Dravid-Ball, Lax-Ball. How far reaching will McCullum’s coaching impact be?
Can Brendon McCullum Fulfill His True Legacy?
Brendon McCullum has won trophies, gained worldwide acclaim, and played memorable innings. He has achieved everything a cricketer can achieve in his or her life.
McCullum has been a lifelong trendsetter. Now only goal remains.
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Can Brendon McCullum, aka Baz, fulfill his legacy and make the Dictionary?
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*In order to get an official word in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the usage and citation matters. There are dictionary employees working on a daily basis perusing through publications, articles, online editorials, etc. So basically, if we use Bazball enough, especially in written work, it will one-day, make the dictionary.
Bazball in England Cricket – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is Bazball?
The purpose and intent of Bazball is to completely annihilate the opposition, abruptly change the tide of a game, and bring an uneasy calm before a surprising storm, all without sacrificing the inner innocence and amusement of a three-year-old child. The prerequisite of Bazballing is the existence of a Bairstow and ability to display aggression without displaying aggression. The Bazball Effect is largely a cricketing phenomenon but is not limited to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
What are some examples of Bazball?
– England selecting Rob Key, a former English cricketer and commentator with zero administrative experience, as the Managing Director of the English Cricket Team and choosing Brendon McCullum (zero first-class coaching experience) as head coach of the England Test team – Jonny Bairstow smashing 136 (92), 162 (157), or 71*(44) and England chasing 279/5 in 78.5 overs (RR 3.53), chasing 299 in 50 overs (RR 5.98), or chasing 279/5 in 78.5 overs (RR 3.53) in 4th innings of a Test match. – Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell scoring 4 centuries and 5 half-centuries between them, not giving up, and giving England a taste of their own medicine – Jasprit Bumrah scoring 35 runs off one Stuart Broad over – England scoring 657 in 101 overs with 4 centuries in Rawalpindi against Pakistan on a dead pitch.
Who coined the phrase, ‘Bazball’?
Although the ‘Bazball’ is named for Brendon McCullum, known as ‘Baz,’ he did not coin the term himself. The phrase ‘Bazball’ was created by England cricket fans on social media and commentators.
What is the Bazball approach?
What is Bazball in cricket? Bazball is a fresh aggressive approach coined for England’s new Test coach, Brendon McCullum, whose nickname is ‘Baz.’
Cricket Food For Thought #3: Time for T20 & Test Cricket to Separate?
By Nitesh Mathur, Broken Cricket Dreams, @BCD 6/10/2022
New Zealand’s first Test against England started on 2nd June, 2022, a Test match in which Trent Boult played right after playing the IPL final on 29th May, 2022 representing the Rajasthan Royals. In fact, New Zealand’s tour of England began much earlier on the 20th May. Two tour matches had already been played before Boult reached the shores of England.
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David Miller & Hardik Pandya starred in Gujarat Titans’ road to IPL glory. Ten days later, they were playing for opposing teams when the 5-match India vs South Africa bilateral series began.
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This series is going to end on 19th of June. Then, India play in Ireland on the 26th and 28th of June, before they play their Test match against England beginning on the…1st of July.
The situation has reached such a point that a special flight is being arranged for coach Rahul Dravid, Shreyas Iyer, and Rishabh Pant.
Warning For Test Cricket
The World Test Championship, although not perfect, has put some context for Test match cricket. However, with T20 leagues overtaking the yearly calendar and T20 World Cups occurring every two years now, ICC Chairperson Greg Barclay has warned
“…Some of the smaller Full Members will have to accept from a resourcing point of view that they can’t play the amount of Test cricket that they wanted to. So we may see a lessening of that, maybe they play four or five Tests a year whereas England, Australia and India I think will be playing Test cricket as they are now.”
– Greg Barclay, icc chairperson
Radical Proposal
I have spoken at length about overkill of cricket and T20 leagues, mental health issues many a times before, but radical times demand radical actions.
Today I propose a separation of T20 and Test cricket as sports. Jonny Bairstow might disagree but workload management and overburdening the cricket schedule is about to hit the edge.
Just like football and futsal are treated as different sports, T20 and Test cricket should be classified as separate sports as well. So what should this separation entail?
A player cannot play both T20 and Test formats at any level.
Separate coaches, teams, players, tournaments, and scouts for both sports. So Rahul Dravid should not go fly and coach the Test team.
Separate governing bodies and budgets
Women’s and Men’s Test matches managed under the same administrative body. Similarly women’s & men’s leagues managed under the same body (Men’s/Women’s Hundred, IPL, Big Bash, CPL, etc.)
Instead of distributing budgets, resources, etc. to these two formats, have a separate funding base
Distance the Heart & Mind
We all would love Virat Kohli playing for RCB and India in all formats all the time, but that is no longer possible. I claim, it is no longer necessary either.
When the IPL begun, each franchise had a marquee player (Dravid – RCB, Ganguly – KKR, Laxman – Deccan, Tendulkar – Mumbai, Yuvraj – Punjab, MS Dhoni – CSK). This was to develop a fan base and for continuity.
Fast forward to 2022. No Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma had off years, MSD was good but we only saw glimpses. IPL 2022 was rather about T20 specialists, The Mohsin Khans, Dinesh Karthiks, and Tim Davids.
T20 as a sport has become self-sufficient. Virat Kohli is needed at Ranji, not Royal Challengers.
Instead of franchising County Cricket or looking to forcefully promote Ranji Trophy, high profile players in domestic tournaments will raise the levels of first class/Test cricket, drive finances, and evolve as a sport faster.
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Oh and what about ODI cricket? I completely forgot about it!
Cricket Food for Thought #3: Dinesh Karthik And the Dose of Optimism You Need In Life
What connects cricketer Dinesh Karthik, US President Barack Obama, fictional coach Ted Lasso, and Shawshank Redemption?
The drive to do something special. The Audacity of Hope. The Belief in Believe. And the fact that “Hope is a Good Thing, and No Good Thing Ever Dies.”
**** Today we had lots of cricket.
So food for your thought. What lesson can you take home?
When you are at the top of the game and get recognized for your efforts, it can be easy to stay motivated. But it is what you do in the afterhours, the hard yards that you put in when no one is looking that makes you who you truly are.
Bangladesh scoring 6 ducks in West Indies the same year they stunned the World Test Champions. The Salt assault, Malan’s Mauling, Brutal Buttler, and Livingstone’s stoning of the Netherlands to take England to a world record 498. Katherine Brunt and William Porterfield retiring.
And yet today does not feel about cricket.
With every passing day, the legend of Dinesh Karthik continues to grow. We have talked about his inspirational journey before, but 2022 has been something special. Not even in the Top 50 Probables in T20s, he has suddenly jumped into contention for the T20 World Cup, scoring his first T20I fifty. Player of the match performances against South Africa, 16 years apart.
It is not just the performances that makes us celebrate these moments.
Sport is a journey. And on days like these, just being happy for DK in his life path is inspiration enough.
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Sometimes that extra dose of optimism is what you need to keep going.
So keep on going and Never Give Up.
Copyright @Nitesh Mathur and Broken Cricket Dreams, 2021. Originally published on 06/18/2022. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Broken Cricket Dreams with appropriate and specific direction to the original content (i.e. linked to the exact post/article).
The number of days it took both Sir Alastair Cook & Joe Root to break the 10,000 run barrier, incidentally the only two English two cricketers to do so. In comparison, it took the great Sachin Tendulkar 31 years & 326 days to breach that mark.
What a moment. 10,000 runs with the same shot as his 100 at Lord’s. Nasser Hussain, as he always does, chose the best possible words to sum it up,
“10,000 Test Runs for Joe Root. He joins the pantheon of all-time great batters and he does it, as ever, with a smile on his face.”
– Nasser hussain
The Tale of Three Legends—Joe Root, Sachin Tendulkar, and Alastair Cook
By Nitesh Mathur, Broken Cricket Dreams, 06/08/2022
Root’s Run
What’s better? Since his debut, it has only taken Root 9 years & 171 days to achieve this landmark. In comparison, Jayawardene-Tendulkar-Gavaskar took about 14-15 years after their debuts and Younis-Chanderpaul about 17-18 years (And yes yes, you’re right. Root took 218 innings, Cook took 229, and England play more Tests than anybody else, but that isanother story).
Joe Root is definitely in the prime of his career. There was a time when Root was going to be uprooted from the Fab 4. With Root inability to convert fifties into hundreds, Babar Azam’s glorious entry, Kane Williamson’s prime, & the god-level cricket Steven Smith & Virat Kohli were producing between 2016-2018, surely Root’s status was being questioned.
Post the pandemic, Smith, Kohli, and Williamson’s needles have barely moved, both in terms of runs and hundreds.
Joe Root, on the other hand, has been on a different level. 21 Tests, 41 innings, 9 hundreds, 4 fifties, 56.23 average since January 2021. And these 9 hundreds include 5 daddy hundreds—228, 218, 186, 180*, and 153. The fact that he did this as England’s Test captain, when they only won 1 out of 17 Tests, in conditions such as Sri Lanka, India, West Indies, and Australia makes his run even more unbelievable.
So naturally the question arises. In the prime of his career, relieved of captaincy pressure, with possibly another 5-10 years ahead of him,can Joe Root break Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 15,921 Test runs?
Root has left the rest of the Fab Four in his tracks 😲
Cook scored his first hundred at at the age of 21. In the next 7 years, he racked up 25 total. In his prime, his record read:
2009: 3 Tons
2010: 5
2011: 4
2012: 4
2013: 2
Tons in overseas Ashes win & subcontinental hundreds, Cook was at the top of the world. Even though he slowed down after 2013, by the time he climbed the 10K runs mountain, he had already amassed 28 Test centuries. And he was still young.
It looked like he was meant to break Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 51 Test hundreds.
But then he didn’t.
He fell short. In fact, very, very short. Not by one, or two, or even 10 hundreds. By 18 hundreds.
Alastair Cook would only score 5 more centuries and retire from international cricket at the age of 33.
Sachin Tendulkar
In comparison, when Tendulkar was about 31 years & 157 days old, he had 33 centuries already.
However, his form was about to take a dip. Between December 2004 & May 2007, Tendulkar only scored one Test century, a 109 vs Sri Lanka in 2005.
Questions were asked. Retirement calls surrounded the media. He couldn’t seem to go past the nervous nineties in ODI cricket. Tennis elbow injuries, Greg Chappell controversy, 2007 ODI WC horror—you name it, it looked like the end for legend Sachin Tendulkar.
But then Sachin Tendulkar had a second wind (almost as long as other people’s entire career). From 2008-2011, he scored 14 Test centuries. That is 14 hundreds after the age of 35.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Joe Rooooooooooooot needs 5906 more Test runs to equal Tendulkar’s record of 15,921, which is a very long way to go
He’s scored 5912 runs in his last 69 Tests
You could add Trescothick’s entire career to Root’s and it would still be short of Tendulkar’s runs
As Mark Puttick pointed out, Trescothick scored 5825 runs in his entire 76-Test career. Mushfiqur Rahim, Bangladesh’s most prolific Test run-scorer, has scored 5235 runs after 82 Tests and 15 years.
Root needs 5906 more.
He either needs to continue his golden touch for couple more years or needs to have a Tendulkar-esque final phase.
So, Can Joe Root Overtake Sachin Tendulkar’s Test Run Tally?
Cook retired early not because cricket had left him. He retired because he had given his everything to the game and achieved what every aspiring English player would dream of. He might even have been burnt out.
It was just a personal choice. Maybe he just wanted to give back to the roots at Essex. He is still going strong at County Cricket. Currently standing at 72 first class tons and having a stellar season.
Life is nonlinear.
Unlike statistics on a chart, real-life will have its share of twists and turns. There will be bumps on the road. Us armchair critics just jump to conclusions too quickly. No individual can continue to be at the peak of powers infinitely.
Now is the time for the moment of truth. Who was the closest? Were there any major surprises? Let’s find out.
The Results
Before we dive to the winners, here are the results from this year’s IPL.
#OrangeCap:
Jos Buttler (863 Runs) RR
KL Rahul (616) LSG
Quinton de Kock (508) LSG
#PurpleCap:
Yuzvendra Chahal (27 wickets) RR
Wanindu Hasaranga (26 wickets) RCB
Kagiso Rabada (23 wickets) PBKS
#Winner: Gujarat Titans
#Top4: GT, RR, RCB, LSG
#EmergingPlayer: Umran Malik
#SurprisePackage: Gujarat Titans team surprising everybody, Dinesh Karthik 4.0, Mohsin Khan, Rajat Patidar, Tilak Verma, Rinku Singh, David Miller 3.0, Umran Malik, Jitesh Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed 2.0, Dewald Brevis, Tim David towards the end, Arshdeep Singh’s death over accuracy, captain Hardik Pandya, Rishi Dhawan providing balance to PBKS, SRH’s streaks of wins & losses, R Sai Kishore seamlessly going from SMAT greatness to IPL, R Ashwin being R Ashwin (retired out, promoted to #3, finishing games off, bowling behind the umpire, etc.)
#BrokenDream: Virat Kohli & Kane Williamson underwhelm, RCB so near so far yet again, Evin Lewis’ catch crushes Rinku Singh led KKR revival, Buttler 863 fails to break the 973 record, MI/CSK end at the bottom, KL Rahul on the losing side once again despite runs
Other IPL Awards
Most Valuable Player: Jos Buttler
Super Striker: Dinesh Karthik (183 SR)
Game Changer: Jos Buttler
Fastest Delivery: Lockie Ferguson (157.3 kph)
Perfect Catch: Evin Lewis (KKR vs LSG)
FairPlay Award: GT & RR
How Prediction Points Were Awarded
Depending on how many predictions you attempted, there were a total of 11/12 points up for grab. Here is the points breakdown:
Orange/Purple Cap: 2 Points for the Exact Answer, 1 Points for someone else in the Top 3
For example, you would get 2 points if you had predicted Buttler/Chahal for the orange/purple cap respectively, 1 point for KL Rahul or QDK/Hasaranga or Rabada, and 0 otherwise
Top4: 4 Points Total, +1 for each of the play-off participants
Emerging Player/Surprise Package: Since there were several uncapped players who performed above expectations this time around (and since there were 0 predictions for Umran Malik), any reasonable guess will get a point (examples in the #SurprisePackage list above)
IPL 2022 Prediction Results Part 1
For the first part, we look at predictions from the Subtle Curry SportsFacebook group.
#BrokenDream: Russell/Narine duo struggle & MSD Retires Forever ❌
Well IPL 2022 was fun while it lasted. Now on to international cricket. Test cricket, ODI Super leagues, women’s cricket, and the build up to the T20 World Cup. Stay tuned!
By Nitesh Mathur, Broken Cricket Dreams, 06/04/2022
Cheteshwar Pujara. Mohammad Rizwan. Sussex. One of the highlights of the County Cricket summer so far.
Pujara’s run was nothing short of astonishing—5 matches, 8 innings, 4 centuries, including two doubles, 720 runs, 120 average. Rizwan, although not as prolific, hit a couple of half centuries as well. Pujara has now made a comeback to the Indian Test team for the fifth Test and has acclimatized to the English conditions a month ahead of time.
NZ looked in all sorts and decimated to 132/10 via ageless Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, and debutant Matty Potts. In response, England punched above their weight and scored 59/0 with Zak Crawley finally finding some form.
Then Crawley threw it away. 59/1 No worries.
Then departed ever-promising never-performing Ollie Pope. England 75/2. Root stepped into the ground after 20 overs. Can you believe that, 20 overs? Two backfoot punches, business as usual. England 92/2.
However, Colin de Grandhomme reignited 2019 WC Final memories to get rid of Joe Root. Then came silky Southee around the wicket and IPL finalist Trent Boult to wreak havoc. Another England collapse. 5 runs & 8 wickets in 25 balls. From 59/0 to 92/2 to 100/7 and eventually 141 all out.
Brendon McCullum or no Brendon McCullum, Stokes or no Stokes, Same old, Good Ole England.
Kevin Pietersen has been ridiculed for his adamant proposal on “Franchising County Cricket.” Reduce the number of counties and things will be all good, right? Well, Matty Potts (Durham) has just come up from second division and seemed to fit right in, while Root/Bairstow (Yorkshire)-Foakes (Surrey) are first division players. Poor batting displays boil down to two reasons–a bowling era (pitches/quality of bowlers) and technical deficiencies of the batters.
Thought of the Day
Now let’s shift our focus back on Pujara-Rizwan. Why are they in England? To improve their batting skills, face different conditions, and prepare themselves when their countries play England, right?
Just like T20 specialists these days go around the world and play in the IPL, PSL, BBL, CPL, etc., why can’t England players hone their techniques in Sheffield Shield or Ranji Trophy in the off season? Ex-England chief executive, Tom Harrison, wrote to Australian board to allow English players after the Ashes loses.
So why don’t England players these days play in overseas domestic first-class tournaments?
