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The Journey of a Movement tends to be defined by specific steps.

1. The Core Concept

A charismatic leader or coaches introduce a new and transcendent idea offering a cure for alienated and vulnerable people.

Thus we find ourselves. Preparations are underway to challenge the establishment down in Brisbane. The gunships are circling. Smoke is rising from the sidelines. An isolated player, vulnerable, anxious, the phrase ATTACKING MINDSET displayed prominently as a statement, has emerged through the lines and is being led away under a blanket towards an inconclusive loan stint elsewhere.

Do you recall the beginning, when optimism reigned? The era of early Bazball, of uninhibited aggression.

2. The Honeymoon Phase

Movement founders offer a new start, hope for a future, love, redemption within a community united in belief in the philosophy.

What was this thing initially? Players celebrating feeling good. Tattoos. Muscles. Determination. Confident masculinity. Oh sure, The team insist they don’t use the label, ironically because if it doesn’t exist, what did we see?

However, everyone understands the concept. It’s the batsman executing a stroke so outrageous it has to be pixelated. It’s the excitement of the leader in ultimate mode, a look that says: pensive Nordic god, rugged appearance, natural look, so authentically Modern Savage you wouldn’t be surprised to look down and see him playing in the field bare-chested and cradling a wild salmon.

It’s Ben Duckett continuing to have permission addressing the media, resembling a cheerful animal smartly dressed, uttering phrases such as we are actively deconstructing the orange. Certainly, the atmosphere, for a significant period, was uplifting.

3. The Growth Phase

Building period. Cohesion maintained through repetition of mantras. These ideas may seem irrational to prove commitment.

Is it just me? The backlash, the anger, the feeling of letdown post-defeat seems too strong, too much. England batted badly in Perth, as is typical there. They were savaged in the field for a couple of hours when tactics failed, outplayed by the batsman batting like England but better, responsive to the situation, a performer excelling with a kind of light around him.

Now there is the criticism, the anger, the sense of English Test cricket as a failure. The consensus is that England don’t just need to lose, they must be humbled, to be purged, flame-throwered, defeated through sheer skill of the bowler’s action, the low-fi orthodoxies of the bowler, seen enjoying successes humbly like he’s just been given a pleasant gift. How will they respond?

4. External Conflict

Challenges surface from failures in the plan. However, faults are ignored. It turns to hostility externally.

In truth, a few days before the upcoming game, we have now reached a delicious point of tension in the journey of this movement. Victory is possible in Brisbane with bold tactics. More likely, they could lose just as quickly. In case of defeat it appears we could be witnessing the decline.

Prior to that, there are two things to note about this. More than two years ago, back in those heady early days, of passion and hope, a column appeared suggesting Bazball was a cult. People were very angry, which was helpful as it’s known a method to show something definitely isn’t a cult is should followers respond with anger denying scrutiny of its truths.

Recent events lately are equally notable. Criticism of the approach has now become the cult. Social media is furious, angry English pundits, images of frustrated supporters abroad missing out on play, similar to people wanting fairness.

Conversely, we have the wider backdrop of the host’s complex deep-seated frustration at these weirdly passive-aggressive buccaneers, out there saying, the methods you value and have developed as part of your identity from others, it’s just a joke ultimately.

This is the core issue. It’s all cults. The style was a trend as the game has its own culture. In fact, the team has long been exclusive, a group, a private event, a closed world with centuries of tradition and mystery supporting it. This has always been a place where power and access are hoarded. It’s the British pastime of the nation, the early image-makers. And notably, the country is a phenomenon, a structure of hidden ranks, a place that literally still has a king.

The team have been sealed up in this environment from a young age. In trying to escape from it, to build a better atmosphere, they are simply replicating their upbringing, forming a new circle, a closed circle, but now with 15 cool guys and a leader who wants you to be yourself as long as yourself is quite a lot like myself.

Focus on the moment. Confront risks. However much you change, things stay similar.

Reflecting on this, it is perhaps the moment to show understanding for the approach, to acknowledge its merits, that are numerous. How to define it? Encouraging expression. Challenging orthodoxies. Batting aggressively|Attacking with