Bazball is a style of play in cricket that began in 2022. It was an approach to playing test cricket by England which gained prominence during the coach-captain partnership of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes.
‘Baz’ is a nickname of Brendon McCullum. The approach of England to test cricket was based on three factors. Firstly, the scoring rate was increased. This was the most starking feature of the style as the team started hitting more runs faster and better. This was also the reason that led to the name ‘Bazball’ as McCullum himself was an attacking batter during his professional career. The term was coined by Andrew Miller, an editor at ESPN Cricinfo.
The second factor was that faster playing almost always guaranteed that a result could come out instead of settling for a draw. Finally, the third factor was the introduction of a nighthawk. A nighwatchman in cricket is a lower-order batter who is sent when only a few overs are left in the day’s play. The role of this batter is to defend and play out the day to avoid any more fall of wickets of the top order. A nighthawk in contrast is a lower order batter who is sent to freely hit and swing the bat to score runs faster with aggression.
Ever since the adoption of Bazball, England have won three, drawn two, and lost one test series. Despite the positives, McCullum himself has repeatedly expressed his resentment towards the name Bazball. He has been in record stating that the term is silly and means nothing to him.
