England captain Ben Stokes (L) with coach Brendon McCullum.
Test matches in cricket, the longer format played across five days and four innings, are governed by traditional conventions. The most obvious is that the batsman has to dig in and play cautiously to counter the swing and seam movement early when the ball is new and the pitch is hard and the most helpful for the bowlers. Built on this cautious approach, a team is expected to bat for the three sessions of a day to score around 300 runs in the 90 overs to be played. This is how teams have played throughout the history of the game, slowly building strong foundations with watchful, cautious batting to post strong scores. It has been the job of the bowlers to move forward the game by picking 20 opposition wickets in the five days of play.
This old school, dull tradition is now being challenged by a new modern approach, the 'Bazball'. Named after England coach Brendon 'Baz' McCullum, this new approach to the game created a stir last week when the team beat Pakistan in the first Test in Rawalpindi, breaking a few records on the way. On a benign pitch, England became the first team to score 500 runs on the opening day while it was also the first time four batters scored a century on the first day.
This was made possible by the fearless approach that the team has bought since McCullum took over as England's coach. 'Bazball' caught the fancy of cricket fans as England aced run chases of 277, 299 and 296 with consummate ease in successive matches against New Zealand, before a team record chase of 378 obliterated India. It is essentially an extension of England's limited-overs methods which have won them both the ODI and T20I World Cups. In both the innings in Rawalpindi, McCullum's men scored at an unprecedented rate of more than a run-a-ball (6.50 in the first innings, 7.36 in the second), a rate pretty rapid even by the standards of ODI cricket. This was achieved with a bold approach of scoring quick runs and putting the bowlers under pressure, throwing the tradition of preserving wickets out of the window. 'Bazball' is also facilitated by the selections McCullum makes -- he preferred T20 batting machine Liam Livingstone over other technically adept batsmen suited for the challenges of Test cricket.
It is all fine till this approach works and can be hailed as the genius brainchild of McCullum. However, what happens when it fails? This risk-filled template runs the risk of failure as much as it promises miracles in the Test arena. For McCullum and his men, the challenge is to make it work more often than not. It is unlikely that the rest of the teams will blindly adopt this novel approach; every team has its own strengths and weaknesses and strategies that work for them. But till England's 'Bazball' is at work, it certainly makes for fascinating viewing as a cricket fan.
Brazil's last dance
The dancing Samba Boys from Brazil promised much, including a possible mouth-watering FIFA World Cup semifinal against fellow South American arch-rivals Argentina. But Neymar and company are heading home early, beaten on penalties by the gritty Croatians. It is now the fourth time in the last five World Cups that Brazil have been eliminated at the quarterfinals stage. For all their flamboyance and trickery from a set of the most talented footballers in the world, they have nothing to show at the biggest stage since they won the last of their five titles in 2002. They still are the most successful team in the tournament's history ahead of four-time champions Germany and Italy but clearly, Brazil are no more the all-conquering force that made legions of fans fall in love with the 'Jogo bonito'.
