The World Cup 2023 will feature a mini-Ashes clash on Blockbuster Saturday as the defending champions will pay for pride having been almost knocked out of the semis race. Ahead of the clash, ‘Bazball’ has been included in Collins Dictionary described as “a style of Test cricket in which the batting side plays in a highly aggressive manner.” When Marnus Labuschagne learned about it, he was left shocked and went on to call it “garbage”.
When Labuschagne was told about the news, his initial reaction was: “No, I didn't. What was it? What happened?”
“Oh man, that is garbage. I don't know what that is. Honestly, I have no idea what you're talking about,” he added.
‘Bazball’ started trending when Brendon McCullum was appointed as England Test team’s head coach and he introduced an attacking style of play in the red-ball format instead of taking the traditional approach. Since then, the Ben Stokes-led England have been able to dominate teams in Test cricket. They faced their biggest challenge in Ashes 2023 when the series ended in a 2-2 draw.
Bazball's origin is noted as ‘C21: after Brendon McCullum, known as Baz (born 1981), New Zealand cricketer and coach’.
While the term is well known in the cricketing world, McCullum is not very pleased with it was he was quoted as saying, “I don’t really like that silly term that people are throwing out there because there’s actually quite a bit of thought that goes into it.”
In addition, the term 'Bazball' is also in contention to win Collins' Word Of The Year 2023. The word was shortlisted by the organisation itself.
But England have not been in the best of forms in the World Cup. Their only win came against Bangladesh. They have lost five out of six matches in the tournament and are at the bottom of the table. Their batting lineup has not been able to post a total in excess of 200 whether chasing or batting first in the last three games. While England are almost out of the World Cup, their chances of qualifying for the Champions Trophy 2025 are in jeopardy as well.
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