'Bazball’, a term used to define England's destructive batting style in Test Cricket, has found its way into the Collins dictionary, recognizing its widespread use, according to a report by stuff.co.nz. This word was coined to describe the aggressive style of cricket adopted under the leadership of England's test match head coach, Brendon McCullum. Harper Collins also named 'Bazball' as one of the ten most significant new words of 2023, as per the same report.
Collins defines ‘Bazball’ as "a style of test cricket in which the batting side plays in a highly aggressive manner." Although it's already included in the online version of the dictionary, it won't appear in the printed edition until next year's release.
The origin of ‘Bazball’ can be traced back to Andrew Miller, the UK editor at the ESPNCricinfo website, who coined it in May 2022 on an episode of the Switch Hit Podcast shortly after McCullum's appointment as head coach. It gained even more popularity during last summer's Ashes series, where England came back from a 0-2 deficit to secure an exciting 2-2 draw. The usage of this term has surged by 400 percent from 2022 to 2023.
Although ‘Bazball’ was coined in 2022, its usage has seen a remarkable increase of over 400 percent in 2023. It refers to the attacking style of batsmanship that led to a remarkable transformation in England's test cricket team under the coaching of Brendon "Baz" McCullum.
Since McCullum, the former New Zealand captain, took over as England's head coach in May 2022, the team has won 13 out of 18 test matches, a striking improvement for a side that had only won one out of their previous 17 tests. McCullum was appointed at the same time as Ben Stokes became captain, and Stokes played a significant role in driving this transformative approach.
Don’t Really Like That Silly Term: McCullum On 'BazBall'
It's worth noting that McCullum himself has expressed his dislike for the term.
"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 how the guys manufacture their performances and when they put pressure on bowlers and which bowlers they put pressure on," said McCullum during an interview on SEN WA Breakfast last year.
Interestingly, cricket.com.au shared a video on social media featuring Marnus Labuschagne's amusing response to the inclusion of 'Bazball' in the Collins Dictionary. Andrew Miller, the term's coiner, subsequently reposted this video on X (formerly Twitter).
In the video, a reporter asks, "What do you make of Bazball getting included in the dictionary? I don’t know if you saw that."
Initially, Marnus is clueless about it but as the reporter delves further, he exclaims, "Oh man, that is garbage. I don’t know what that is. Honestly. I have no idea what you’re talking about."