What is Bazball in Cricket?

The term “bazball” was coined by ESPNCricinfo journalist Andrew Miller while defining the English Test team’s new-found approach under coach Brandon McCullum. Fondly called “Baz '' from his playing days, the former New Zealand captain Brandon McCullum is known to advocate an aggressive brand of cricket. Bazball’s definition of cricket is this modified approach in the longest format.

The most apt and most popular example of Bazball has been England’s domineering opening day against Pakistan in Rawalpindi when the visitors tallied a mammoth 506 runs, which is the highest run scored by a team in a single day of Test cricket.

In an otherwise conservative format, which usually runs for five days before an outcome is decided, Bazball has been a breath of fresh air. After Eoin Morgan’s belligerent approach to white-ball cricket delivered the Three Lions their maiden ODI World Cup title in 48 years, the management wanted to experiment with a similar approach in red-ball cricket.

After the 2021-22 Ashes series ended 4-0 in favour of Australia, coach Chris Silverwood was sacked and McCullum was appointed on May 12, 2022, as a shock move. Having just retired from playing cricket in 2019, McCullum was largely untested in the Test format, with his only success coming as the coach of T20 franchises. However, the management seemed to know exactly what they wanted and McCullum didn’t disappoint either.

While Bazball has faced criticism, it surely has brought results for a struggling English side, who has won 13 of the 18 Tests they played under McCullum from June 2022 to July 2023.

A glorious start to the Bazball philosophy

McCullum had assumed England’s coaching duties at a time when the side had won just once in seventeen matches under Joe Root’s captaincy. A change in captaincy was also fundamental to England’s path forward with a vibrant Ben Stokes more likely to be in tandem with the new gaffer’s philosophy.

The Ben Stokes-Brendon McCullum partnership couldn’t have started better with England whitewashing New Zealand at home in the three-match Test series. However, it was the manner of their victories that forced the world to stand up and take notice.

How Bazball redefined run-chase in Test cricket

Bazball’s initial assignments were against New Zealand and India, respectively, the two finalists of the 2021 World Test Championships, and England showed domination. Batting second in all four matches, England chased 277, 299, 296 and 378 runs, respectively, in the fourth innings to create history.

England was the first team in the Test to chase three scores of 250-plus in consecutive games against New Zealand, and the first-ever English side to win four consecutive Test matches while batting last. While batting first has traditionally been a popular decision in Test cricket, Stokes was seen opting to chase whenever he won the toss.

England’s run rate in Test cricket currently stands at a whopping 4.82; the closest to this was Steve Waugh’s Australia, who scored 3.66 runs per over. Among all the components that have defined Bazball, three stand out - a mentality to win at all costs, no fear of failure and embracing mental freedom and fun.

Following England’s win over New Zealand at Trent Bridge, where the hosts chased 299 runs in the final innings, Stokes had perfectly summed up this new approach, “The message just was run into the fear of what the game was rather than stand still or back away from it...I'll say it quite simply: we were either winning this game or losing it.

“That was the mentality that we wanted all the batsmen coming in to have...It's paid off. When you have the backing of the coach and captain, it rubs off on the players in a very positive way. So you're not fearing failure. You're just going out and doing what you want to do," the England captain explained.

Bazball transcends beyond aggressive batting

While going full-throttle from the first ball has been a Bazball trademark, the philosophy isn’t just limited to scoring runs faster. English bowlers have also been seen bowling fuller-length deliveries more frequently with the sole aim being taking more wickets and not run protection.

Stokes has been a very lively skipper on the field as well, continuously changing field positions to confuse batsmen. England has tried to attack by placing some unconventional fielding positions like using a leg slip, assembling three men in front of square and even placing a player on the back-stop.

This uncompromising attitude of England was seen in their willingness to seek results at all costs, a fact perfectly evident by the team drawing just once in their last 18 matches. England made the second-earliest declaration in Test cricket history while facing New Zealand at the Bay Oval when they tallied 325/9 in 58.2 overs before asking the hosts to bat. Eventually, England would win the game by a whopping 267 runs.