Bazball England Cricket: Bazball meaning in cricket England team

Bazball England Cricket: The ‘Bazball’ approach of the England Test side was mocked by fans on social media after stumps on Day 2.

At stumps on ‘Day 2’ of the ongoing rescheduled ‘fifth’ Test match between India and England at Edgbaston in Birmingham, the Ben Stokes-led side were tottering at 84/5 while catching up India’s massive first innings total of 416.

On a day which was mostly marred by rain, team India skipper Jasprit Bumrah provided the ideal Test match thrill with both bat and the ball, as he not only smashed Stuart Broad for the most-expensive Over ever in Test match history, but also breathed fire with the red cherry in hand, by getting rid of the top-3 England batters early on.

With England still trailing by 332 runs, skipper Ben Stokes (0*) and Jonny Bairstow (12*) – a crucial face of their famous ‘Baz Ball’ approach, were at the crease with half their side down.

With wickets tumbling down at regular intervals, Bairstow had to curb his attacking instincts and put a brief halt to the ‘Baz Ball’, with him currently batting at a strike rate of 25.5.

Bazball England Cricket

“It’s a case of putting pressure back on other people. If you sit there, sit there, sit there, there’s a good ball in there for you. Rather than being a sitting duck and saying ‘look, alright, you can bowl at me’ it’s ‘OK, you can’t bowl at me, so let’s go’.”

While the above remarks from Jonny Bairstow after he led England to a record-breaking win at the Trent Bridge during the second Test against New Zealand, is not the official definition of the trending term, this is more or less the ‘Baz Ball’ approach with which England played against the Kiwis last week during which the latter were whitewashed 3-0 in the three-match Test series.

Derived from former New Zealand skipper and present England Test team head coach Bredon McCullum’s nickname ‘Baz’, the ‘Baz Ball’ refers to the aggressive brand of Cricket which McCullum played during his playing days.

Bairstow, who is the leading face of this very famous term, went on to credit his skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum (in particular) for a change in attitude and approach within the team right from their very first series together.

England managed to chase down the targets in each of the three matches by their aggressive batting approach during the fourth innings. Bairstow, in fact notched-up the second-fastest century and half-century by an English player ever while chasing during the second and third Test of the series respectively.