🔗 Share this article

The Journey of a Cult can be marked by distinct phases.

1. The Core Concept

A dominant personality or coaches present a revolutionary approach that promises a solution for disconnected individuals.

And so it goes. Preparations are underway to confront the system in Australia. The gunships are circling. Conflict emerges from the out-houses. An isolated player, naked, shivering, the phrase ATTACKING MINDSET written on his body as a statement, has emerged through the lines and is being led away with discretion to a different team in county cricket.

Remember the start, when optimism reigned? The initial phase, of uninhibited aggression.

2. Initial Adoration

Movement founders guarantee a fresh beginning, optimism ahead, camaraderie, redemption together with shared faith in the big idea.

What was this thing initially? Just men on a balcony feeling good. Ink. Muscles. Determination. Confident masculinity. Admittedly, The squad will claim it’s not a real term, which is funny as it’s denied, what did we see?

But we know its essence. It’s the player playing a shot so depraved it’s beyond belief. It’s the adrenaline of Ben Stokes in his final form, a look that says: thoughtful warrior, beard made of wood, hair woven from beaver hide, genuinely raw you half-expect to notice and find him positioned in the field bare-chested holding a fish.

It’s the batsman often seen speaking publicly, resembling a joyful figure in a waistcoat, saying stuff like we are actively deconstructing the orange. Certainly, the atmosphere, for quite a long time, was only good energy.

3. A New Life

Growth phase. Unity enforced through repetition of mantras. These principles are often illogical as a test of “true belief”.

Am I alone? The criticism, the anger, the sense of betrayal following the initial loss seems too strong, too much. The performance was poor in Perth, as is typical there. They were torn apart defensively during a brief period when tactics failed, carved around by the opponent batting like England but better, adjusting to the pitch, an athlete shining with a kind of light around him.

And now we have this the attacks, the frustration, the perception of the team as a kind of abomination. The opinion suggests that defeat must be total, they should be dismantled, to be scoured, destroyed, defeated by the vengeful purity of the bowler’s action, the low-fi orthodoxies of Scott Boland, out there celebrating successes with a bashful smile like he’s just been given a nice new fishing rod. How will they respond?

4. External Conflict

Problems arise because of mistakes. But the cult cannot admit errors. It begins to thrive on hatred of the outside world.

Ultimately, half a week out the upcoming game, we have now reached a critical juncture in the lifespan of this thing. England could quite easily win in Brisbane through aggressive play. Alternatively, defeat could come swiftly. And if they do lose it appears we could be witnessing the decline.

Ahead of this, a couple of points 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. There was outrage, which proved the point since it’s clear a method to show that it’s not a closed group is when its acolytes send hundreds of furiously one-eyed messages objecting to the questioning of its truths.

What has happened lately are fascinating. Criticism of the approach is now the trend. Online outrage is widespread, critical analysts, images of frustrated followers overseas cheated out of three days of cricket, reminiscent of investors demanding recourse.

Meanwhile, there is the broader context of the host’s complex more culturally hard-wired exasperation at these weirdly passive-aggressive buccaneers, claiming, hey, that thing you love and have honed to distinguish yourselves from the opposition, well, it’s all a bit of a gag in the end old boy.

Here lies the truth. It’s all cults. Bazball was a cult as the game has its own culture. In fact, English cricket has always been a cult, a clique, a private event, a closed world with two hundred years of opaque and ritualistic cult history behind it. This has always been a place where power and access are hoarded. It’s the colonial game of the British, the early image-makers. And surprisingly, Britain is itself a cult, a system of unknown levels, a place that literally still has a king.

England’s cricketers have been enclosed in this environment since childhood. In trying to escape from it, to foster positivity, they are just repeating their own experience, forming a new circle, an exclusive group, however with 15 cool guys and a leader promoting authenticity provided you conform.

Stay present. Run towards the danger. Despite efforts, things stay similar.

Reflecting on this, it might be appropriate to have some sympathy for the approach, to acknowledge its merits, which are significant. How to define it? Encouraging expression. Defying norms. Batting aggressively|Attacking with