From Bazball to Culture Wars: strategies of defeat
England lost the Third Test against India on Sunday
The 434 margin of defeat was England’s largest since 1934 and India’s biggest in history
It’s worth reflecting on this in the context of an England team attitude that it doesn’t matter, and on to the next Test on Friday.
Of course there was superb batting and bowling from India who are very hard to defeat- as England did in the First Test- on their home grounds.
Even so given that England looked to be in a good position at the end of the second day’s play with a superb innings from Duckett the scale of the capitulation was significant.
Bazball, a strategy of playing attacking Test cricket to make it attractive to a wider layer of potential spectators in the face of challenges from shorter forms of the game, has its place, particularly when it works.
However if it’s the only strategy, and it appears that it is, it becomes less a way of playing exciting cricket and achieving some results, and more of a management mantra, stuck to even when reality intervenes.
The comparison with England cricket fan Rishi Sunak’s strategy for winning the forthcoming Election can be made. He has no real policies that are making a positive difference to anything despite the Tories being in Office since 2010.
Rather what he has is a serious of Culture Wars, attacking the supposedly ‘woke’ criticising anti-racist programmes and attempts to promote equality. The sound and fury can be impressive and occasionally a result is achieved. It is not however a winning strategy on its own.
People want to see more substance and the same goes for the England cricket team
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