By Markus Conneely
England’s shock exit from the Champions Trophy leaves the ODI team in crisis again.
A 10th loss in 11 white ball games since Brendon McCullum’s appointment to the limited overs setup has made some question his methodology.
Former England player Alex Hartley said on the BBC’s Test Match Special podcast; “The arrogance of the England teams irritates me.
They say, ‘we don’t care about the result, and we want to entertain’, but people don’t want to come and watch you if you lose all the time.”
Alongside England’s personal brand of aggressive cricket, overconfident press engagements that result in oversharing have become the norm, merely another layer of the Bazball iconography.
Perhaps a symptom of Baz-mandated ultra-confidence, cocksure members of England’s environment have seen their comments attract headlines and be ravaged online.
Here are the top 6 Baz blunders from the past 3 years:
Zak Crawley is not in the side for consistency claims McCullum
Back in 2022, during the peak of the firestorm discourse that surrounded the continued selection of Zak Crawley, head coach McCullum poured water on the concerns of sceptics.
He explained: “I look at a guy like Zak and his skillset is not to be a consistent cricketer. He’s not that type of player. He has a game which, when he gets going, can win matches for England.”
By saying that some batsmen did not need to produce runs consistently, McCullum tore up the orthodoxy of Test cricket.
Crawley’s long run of low scores, brought on by technical frailties, were to be excused in the pursuit of something bigger, a decision that left fans bewildered.
To McCullum’s credit, something bigger arrived a year later when Crawley smashed 189 at Old Trafford against Australia.
Vindication of his comments? Not exactly. A contemporary downturn in form has left England right back to where they started, as Crawley averaged just 8 in the recent series against New Zealand, falling victim to Matt Henry 6 times in 6 innings in the process.
Trading consistency for infrequent big scores leaves Crawley averaging less than 31.
Joe Root suggests the IPL provides ideal Ashes preparation
Ahead of the 2023 Ashes, Joe Root opted against playing for his native Yorkshire in the County Championship; instead, he made his IPL debut. Root, infused with self belief, hit back against the idea that this would affect his game.
“For where I am within my game and my development, having an experience like (the IPL) for the first time at 32 years old, I feel that’s going to benefit me more in the long run than playing four Championship games where I might not learn too much about myself.
Look at the fixtures: one of them’s already been rained out, one was a rain-affected game and ended up a draw.
Is that really going to ready me for an Ashes series?” Though Root delivered in the 2023 Ashes (averaging over 50), his comments were baffling.
Root was selected to play in just three games, and only when his franchise, the Rajasthan Royals, were already out of playoff contention.
In his one innings, he made 10 (15). Not only did his comments prove incompatible with logic, England’s greatest batsman downplaying the significance of domestic FC cricket was painful for the County Championship, a competition in a never-ending battle for relevancy.
Mitchell Starc’s decision to opt out of the IPL to properly prepare for the Ashes (turning down huge money in the process) worsened Root’s gaffe.
Brook finds comfort in a moral victory
After the 4th Ashes Test at Old Trafford was washed out, England were denied the chance to win back the Ashes urn.
Yet, England starlet Harry Brook explained how victory was still on the cards ahead of the Oval test.
“We were dominating the game last week so if the game had played out, I would like to think we would have won. So if we can win this week, yeah it can be a moral victory.”
England would go on to win at the Oval in the most dramatic circumstances, and, to an extent, many fans concurred with Brook’s sentiment.
Having set the tone in every Test match, England took more pride from the series than their Australian counterparts, who must’ve accepted they were fortunate to avoid defeat in
Manchester.
However, somewhat unsurprisingly, Brook’s comments were poorly received down under.
In fact, the Australian media, duty bound to downplay England’s exploits, had been gifted a phrase that encapsulated the righteousness of their English foes.
Within weeks it was embedded in the lexicon of Australian cricket fans, to the detriment of online discourse on all things Bazball.
Ollie Robinson downplays the importance of winning
Following a disappointing loss in the 2nd test against India last February, outspoken England bowler Ollie Robinson pulled back the curtain on the result’s non-existent impact on the team.
Writing in his Wisden column, he penned “the message that keeps coming from Ben and Baz is that results are irrelevant to us – it’s the way that we play.
The way that we’re playing and the brand of cricket that we play is how we want to be seen and perceived.”
As McCullum and Stokes continued to gush about the importance of entertaining cricket, some speculated that England were growing detached from the principal aim of winning Test matches.
Helpfully, Robinson exposed all. England were now in the final stage of reducing the fear of failure to zero.
Unsurprisingly, a team unbothered by results did not produce good ones; the visitors were dismantled, eventually succumbing to a 4-1 loss.
The first Test in Hyderabad, dramatic and entertaining though it was, did little to ease the pain of another demolition on the subcontinent.
Robinson’s comments struck a nerve; it is hard to argue that match-going England Cricket fans feel as disconnected to results as Bazball’s inner circle.
Ben Duckett claims credit for Yashasvi Jaiswal knock
Before England departed India, Yashasvi Jaiswal produced a brutal ton that left England on the brink during the 3rd Test at Rajkot. England opener Ben Duckett emerged with a nuanced view on the day’s play.
“It almost feels like we should take some credit that they’re playing differently than how other people play Test cricket. We saw it a bit in the summer.
It’s quite exciting to see other players and other teams also playing that aggressive style of cricket.”
Never mind the legacy of Sehwag, or the independently brilliant Jaiswal (Indian cricket’s superstar-in-waiting), England seemed to watch on with pride as the opener heaved his way to a glorious century at their expense.
Evidently intoxicated with self-confidence, Duckett suggested that England could chase down any score that Jaiswal and India would set them.
“The more the better. This team is all about doing special things and creating history. They can have as many as they want and we’ll go and get them.”
Jaiswal returned the next morning and finished his innings on 214; Ben Duckett was run out for 4 and England lost by a mammoth 434 runs, a crushing result for even the most stubborn optimist amongst the Test team.
Liam Livingstone convinced England didn’t deserve to lose
After Duckett’s 165 led England to an impressive score of 351 against Australia in the opening match of the Champions Trophy, they were firmly in the driving seat.
Just a few hours later, Josh Inglis had hit a match-winning 120 and ripped away a dearly needed win from the country of his birth in the process.
It left England, once again, at a loss. Livingstone, perhaps trying to rally the troops, exclaimed. “We did a hell of a lot really well, and I don’t personally think that performance deserved to lose yesterday.”
Granted, 350 chases are far from commonplace and England were much improved, but Livingstone’s statement smacked of the same overconfidence that mired England’s ODI team throughout Buttler’s tenure as captain.
Livingstone’s lack of introspection revealed more than he knew, as it became clear that England had moved on fast and were unlikely to take any learnings from a match Australia comfortably won.
Similarly unlucky results followed against Afghanistan and South Africa. At their best, McCullum’s England does the talking on the pitch.
As the nation continues its consideration of Bazball 2.0, culling the cringeworthy, brash one liners could be a high priority.
READ MORE: Who could succeed Jos Buttler as England white-ball captain?