Cricket News: "Bazball" and how South African dismantled it
Even before the on-field clash between England and South Africa, the 'Bazball' approach led to off-field banter between the two teams
South Africa's Anrich Nortje celebrates taking the wicket of England's Jonny Bairstow during day three of the first LV= Insurance Test match at Lord's, London.England's new 'Bazball' approach under the Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes era took the cricketing world to storm a few months back. They chased down big totals posted by England in red-ball cricket and even defeated India in the fifth rescheduled match.
However, South African skipper Dean Elgar didn't look like a fan of the approach. He raised doubts about the longevity of the approach and said, "I've got absolutely no interest in the style that they've played. I think it can go one of two ways for them and it can go south very quickly. [Talking about it] is a waste of energy. I'd like to see them do it against our seamers."
This statement didn't go well with English wicket-keeper batter Sam Billings, who said, "We've beaten an international team over four days by an innings in a manner of scoring 5.74 an over. You'd be pretty stupid to ignore that, if I'm honest."
Even red-ball captain Ben Stokes believed England's 'Bazball' approach had gotten into South Africa's head.
But what happened after this banter was something Englishmen would have never imagined. The Proteas defeated them by an inning and 12 runs in the first test match. England batters could not stand the heavy pace attack of South Africa at Lords. As quoted by Dean Elgar, the attacking approach in test cricket can go two ways, and it doesn't take time to go south. And this only happened with England.
Apart from the opener Alex Lees who looked to take time to settle on crease fetching 35 in 83 balls, none of the other batters attempted to settle. And that aggressive approach came heavy on the team in the form of a terrible collapse.
Even after facing the defeat, Ben Stokes stood firm on his approach and asserted that there would also be no change in approach in the second test.
"This is absolutely not a wakeup call or anything like that. It was just unfortunate we're unable to execute in the way that we want to play this week," said Ben Stokes.
While everyone believed the defeat resulted from the 'Bazball' approach, coach Brendon McCullum called it "timid" and certainly not Bazball.
How Bazball differs from the "new" theory of Rahul Dravid for India
The 'bazball' approach has added a new flavour to England's team in red-ball cricket. The new term was devised after the team was severely criticised for playing old-fashioned cricket in the Ashes and getting defeated terribly.
'Bazball' signifies nothing but an attacking, fearless and audacious approach to the game. It encourages players to play an aggressive form of cricket no matter the situation. While Rahul Dravid also encourages aggressive and attacking play in the shortest format of cricket, the approach doesn't look to be settling in red-ball cricket.
Even if a few players like Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik and Rohit Sharma play their natural attacking game, there are players like Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, and Sanju Samson who play balanced cricket. While some players attack, there are others to anchor the team when moments of fragility come.
Despite both believing in an aggressive brand of cricket, they are on two different routes.
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