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One of the newest cricketing terms, Bazball, is in the headlines once again, especially after the England Test team defeated India by 28 runs in the first Test of the five-match series. In the series build-up, the English Test captain Ben Stokes revealed how his players and the head coach Brendon McCullum don’t like the term Bazball to describe them.
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For the unversed, Bazball is inspired by the England head coach Brendon McCullum, who has a nickname called “Baz,” to describe his team’s highly aggressive style of batting to gain initiative in Tests. Since its introduction in 2022 under the leadership of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, the England Test team have revolutionised itself into one of the most feared sides in the longest format of the game.
Ben Stokes spoke to JioCinema, the live-streaming platform for the home matches of the Indian cricket team before the five-match Test series began. He discussed the term Bazball at length, and said, as per the Indian Express, “It’s a phrase that was created by the media. Something that we try and stay away from. It just came from what we have managed to do over the last two years and how we’ve played.”
“We don’t necessarily like it, Baz (head coach Brendon McCullum) hates it! Whenever that word pops up, we just try to say that’s how England plays Test cricket,” Ben Stokes added.
Moreover, the term Bazball was included in the Collins Dictionary in 2023, defining it as, “A style of Test cricket in which the batting side attempts to gain the initiative by playing in a highly aggressive manner.”