I think there’s always an emotional pushback to anything England say because well it’s England and everyone’s sick of them telling how cricket should be played.
I think Bazball has shown it’s got plenty of substance to it, the test just gone was a perfect example of it growing up in front of our eyes. The sound bites coming from the team can be a bit odd on a surface level but I’m always struck but how much the players believe in what they are doing, it doesn’t matter whether they are actually saving test cricket or not (spoiler: they aren’t because it’s doomed), they clearly believe in this greater purpose as a collective and it’s not only helping them access a level that I didn’t think they collectively had in them but they’re also really enjoying how they’re going about it. It’s a bit like how Sir Alex would build a siege mentality during a season, it doesn’t matter if it’s actually true or not, they real value is in what it gets out of the players believing it. Everyone talks tactics/declarations when it comes to Bazball but that’s what really interests me about it is the psychology of it, it’s a lot subtler and smarter than people give it credit for.
Sure it’s frustrating that England don’t have much to show for it in this series but I think they’ve learned some very valuable lessons. It’s been interesting that the Australian view on Bazball has gone from, ‘oh yeah I’d like to see them try it against Cummins, Starc and Hazelwood’ to ‘ah yeah it’s fecking great but it didn’t win them the series and they said weird stuff (as if Australia would ever do that *cough* elite honesty *cough*), so ha’.
