Follow UsBazball, the term might not be dear to the one on whom it is formed, but England men’s cricket team head coach Brendon McCullum is upset with the people who criticise the style of play that the word represents.
“I think there’s a bit of a misconception about how we play, that we swing the bat as hard as we can, we try to take wickets and then we go for a round of golf and a few beers,” BBC Sport quoted McCullum as saying on ‘For the Love of Cricket’ podcast.
England recently lost an ODI series against South Africa, which was McCullum's second series at home as England's white-ball coach.
“I find it slightly disrespectful to all of you guys (the players) and all of the people in the set-up who work so hard and have such clear determination of wanting to succeed, to have that so simply categorised, almost,” added the 43-year-old.
Explaining how the system that has been in place since the New Zealander took over as England’s head coach and Ben Stokes was appointed as England’s red-ball captain, McCullum said, “For us, it’s about trying to create an environment that allows you to handle the pressures of international cricket, to understand the size of that task but to not be restricted in your ability to play.”
And what is at the core of the Bazball mindset? For McCullum, it is not allowing the talent to be stymied.
“You want your talent to come out, I hate seeing talent stymied, so having a certain style or belief in how we want to play gives us the best chance of success. You can’t do that if you are bound by this tension and negativity,” asserted the man, who can be very easily credited for revolutionizing Test cricket.