Bazball is entertaining, hypocritical, enthralling, delusional, glorious, self-righteous … and destined to fail in Ashes

The Ashes series, and the continuation of a style of play affectionately labelled ‘Bazball’, began with much hype, hope and hubris. Yet it’s now become so much more – and oxymoronically, less – than that.

What started as a cute nickname for playing some aggressive, if not reckless, batting strokes, is now the central narrative of this Ashes series. Primarily, this is due to the English players, press and fans humorously and arrogantly convincing themselves they are revolutionising the game and saving Test cricket.

They’re now the self-appointed arbiters of what is aggressive cricket, what is entertaining cricket, and what’s within the Spirit of the Game.

It’s all absolutely bonkers, but it certainly ensures the Ashes is even more engrossing.

Whether it’s a case of the English Test cricket team reading too much of their own press, or just blindly drinking the Kool-Aid of coach Brendon McCullum, they have emphatically become extremely vocal on how the game should be played.

The confusing part is that they’re all over the shop.

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