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The Journey of a Movement is often characterized by distinct phases.

1. The Grand Vision

A dominant personality or leaders present an innovative concept offering a panacea for struggling players.

Thus we find ourselves. They’re getting ready to storm the compound overseas. Tensions are rising. Signs of trouble appear from the out-houses. One individual, naked, nervous, the phrase ATTACKING MINDSET displayed prominently in chicken blood, has emerged from the field and is taken aside with discretion to a different team at Derbyshire.

Do you ever miss the beginning, when optimism reigned? The initial phase, of uninhibited aggression.

2. The Honeymoon Phase

Team architects offer a reboot, optimism ahead, love, salvation within a community united in belief in the method.

What was this thing at first? Players celebrating feeling good. Body art. Muscles. Focus. Confident masculinity. Admittedly, The squad insist Bazball doesn’t actually exist, which is funny because if it doesn’t exist, what was that spectacle?

However, everyone understands its essence. It’s the player executing a stroke so outrageous it defies description. It’s the excitement of the leader at his peak, a look that says: pensive Nordic god, rugged appearance, hair woven from beaver hide, truly contemporary you half-expect to look down and see him playing at mid-off shirtless holding a fish.

It’s the opener still being allowed to talk in press conferences, out there looking like a cheerful animal formally attired, saying stuff like we’re challenging norms. Certainly, the atmosphere, initially, was uplifting.

3. The Growth Phase

Growth phase. Unity enforced by rote learning of mantras. These ideas are often illogical as a loyalty check.

Does anyone else feel? The reaction, the anger, the feeling of letdown following the initial loss seems too strong, overdone. England batted badly during the match, as history shows. They were dominated in the field for a couple of hours as the bowling and captaincy fell apart, carved around by Travis Head batting like England but better, adaptive to conditions, an athlete shining with brilliance.

Now there is the pile-on, the anger, the sense of English Test cricket as a failure. The consensus is that England don’t just need to lose, they should be dismantled, to be cleansed, destroyed, destroyed via traditional methods of the pace attack, the low-fi orthodoxies of the bowler, marking successes humbly similar to getting a nice new fishing rod. What will this do to them?

4. The Backlash Phase

Challenges surface because of mistakes. But the cult cannot admit errors. It starts to feed on hostility externally.

Ultimately, a few days before the upcoming game, we are at a delicious point of tension in the lifespan of this movement. England could quite easily win overseas with bold tactics. Alternatively, they could lose just as quickly. In case of defeat it feels like we may see the death cult phase.

Ahead of this, several aspects to note on the topic. In the past, back in those heady early days, of passion and hope, I wrote an article suggesting Bazball was a cult. People were very angry, which proved the point because everyone knows the best way of proving something definitely isn’t a cult is when its acolytes respond with anger denying scrutiny of the beliefs.

The developments in the last few days are equally notable. Criticism of the approach has turned into a movement. We have a uniformly angry internet, angry English pundits, pictures of upset supporters abroad cheated out of three days of cricket, reminiscent of timeshare owners seeking justice.

On the other hand, we have the wider backdrop of the opponent’s mixed ingrained annoyance at these weirdly passive-aggressive buccaneers, stating, the methods you value and have fostered and nurtured as one way of separating yourself culturally from us, well, it’s all a bit of a gag after all.

And this is the real point. All movements are similar. Bazball was a cult since the sport itself is insular. In fact, English cricket has always been a cult, a circle, a garden party, a restricted environment with centuries of ceremonial past behind it. It has long been a place where power and access are hoarded. It’s the British pastime of England, the early image-makers. And notably, the nation has its own culture, a system of unknown levels, a monarchy still exists.

England’s cricketers have been sealed up in this environment from a young age. Attempting to break free, to build a better atmosphere, they are mirroring their upbringing, building another enclosure, a closed circle, but now with a new team and a coach encouraging individuality provided you conform.

Stay present. Run towards the danger. Despite efforts, things stay similar.

Reflecting on this, it is perhaps the moment to offer compassion for Bazball, to recognize its positives, of which there are many. How to define it? Promoting liberation. Challenging orthodoxies. Batting aggressively|Attacking with