Good morning!
I was reading
’ & Nathan Leamon’s book (Hitting Against The Spin) a couple of months ago, and the similarities between Eoin Morgan’s England and Bazball struck me.
10 years ago, England’s ODI team were in a very similar place to their Test team today. They had just come off incredible results in a different format (i.e. Test series victories over Australia and India away), but they kept falling short with the white ball.
Losses to Ireland & Bangladesh in consecutive World Cups were lowlights of a low period. And then England promoted the right captain and coach, and Morgan and Trevor Bayliss laid the foundations of an aggressive and self-aggrandising locker room that won two white ball trophies.
They came up with a strategy, remodelled their squad to find aggressive young players (such as Ben Stokes) who could implement it, and backed them to do so without fear of getting dropped even after losses and “dumb” wickets. It sounds a lot like Bazball. Pick the kids, tell them to hit it, and back them endlessly.
The difference is that Morgan’s & Bayliss’ ideas were backed by revolutionary data analysis (such as hitting against the spin, rather than with it), they had a unique crop of talent that could implement the learnings from that analysis, and they were willing to adapt when they lost (such as after the 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 Champions Trophy).
Meanwhile, as Jarrod Kimber pointed out about ENG’s bowling selections yesterday, and Greg Chappell points out about ENG’s bowling tactics today, Bazball ignores data in favour of pure self-love.
Stokes remembers the importance of having strong leadership that backs youngsters, but doesn’t seem to have learnt why they did so. England’s constant derision for any criticism – not to mention their disdain for the WTC – underlines a basic difference from Morgan’s team.
Morgan & Bayliss knew why they had to recklessly back their youngsters, and they had a plan to shape a unique batch of talented kids into world beaters. Stokes & McCullum just seem to like thumping their chests.
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🏏 Cricket Roundup: Hardik stands out, ENG’s terrible bowling tactic, & Bazball’s affect on the kids.
🗞️ Quick News: IPL auction list, WBBL’s best, & the state of the ICC-JioStar battle.
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The full IPL auction list has been released.
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Georgia Wareham was named the best player of the WBBL after topping the wicket-taking charts (19 wickets at a 10.94 average in 10 games) and scoring 277 runs (147.34 SR in 9 innings).
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Teenagers G Kamalini & Vaishnavi Sharma were called up to the India squad.
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Vijay Tagore details the ICC-JioStar media rights contract. Aditi Gupta reports that the ICC has reached out to streaming giants as alternate broadcasters.
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Feroz Khan chats with Apollo Tyres’ Managing Director Neeraj Kanwar about why the company sponsored Team India.
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Disgruntled Puducherry players assaulted a coach (and were arrested) after yesterday’s revelations about the corruption in the state association.
📺 A/V: Steyn on becoming elite.
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“How Dale Steyn Became One Of The World’s Fastest Bowlers”
📽️ Kevin Pietersen talks to Dale Steyn about the duality of his life; the nice guy who becomes a menace when you hand him a ball near a cricket pitch. [YouTube]
That’s it for today!
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