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The Life Cycle of a Movement can be marked by distinct phases.

1. The Core Concept

A dominant personality or leaders introduce a new and transcendent idea pledging a cure for alienated and vulnerable people.

So here we are. Plans are in motion to challenge the establishment in Australia. The gunships are circling. Smoke is rising from the out-houses. A lone figure, exposed, shivering, the phrase ATTACKING MINDSET written on his body in chicken blood, has come staggering through the lines and is being led away in secrecy towards an inconclusive loan stint elsewhere.

Do you ever miss the early days, when optimism reigned? The initial phase, of pure instinct.

2. Initial Adoration

Team architects promise a new start, hope for a future, camaraderie, redemption together united in belief in the big idea.

What was this thing back then? Players celebrating basking in glory. Tattoos. Strength. Determination. Confident masculinity. Admittedly, England’s players will claim it’s not a real term, ironically since it’s not recognized, what was that spectacle?

Yet it’s clear the concept. It’s the batsman attempting a move so unconventional it has to be pixelated. It’s the adrenaline of Ben Stokes at his peak, a look that says: focused titan, rugged appearance, hair woven from beaver hide, truly contemporary you almost imagine to look down and notice he’s fielding in the field bare-chested embracing nature.

It’s the batsman often seen to talk in press conferences, out there looking like a cheerful animal in a waistcoat, saying stuff like we’re challenging norms. And yes, the energy, initially, was uplifting.

3. Expansion Period

Growth phase. Cohesion maintained by rote learning of key phrases. These ideas are often illogical as a test of “true belief”.

Is it just me? The criticism, the fury, the feeling of letdown following the initial loss feels overblown, unwarranted. The performance was poor on the field, as they often do in Australia. They were dominated in the field during a brief period when tactics failed, outplayed by Travis Head imitating their style effectively, adjusting to the pitch, a man playing with a kind of light around him.

Now there is the pile-on, the frustration, the sense of English Test cricket as a kind of abomination. The feeling seems to be that England don’t just need to lose, they must be humbled, to be purged, destroyed, overwhelmed by the vengeful purity of the pace attack, the low-fi orthodoxies of the bowler, marking his wickets humbly similar to getting a nice new fishing rod. What will this do to them?

4. External Conflict

Problems arise from failures in the plan. But the cult cannot admit errors. It turns to hostility externally.

In truth, half a week out the next match, we are at a delicious point of tension in the journey of this approach. Victory is possible in Brisbane with bold tactics. More likely, defeat could come swiftly. Should they fail it feels like we could be witnessing the death cult phase.

Prior to that, there are two things to note on the topic. More than two years ago, back in those heady early days, of light and heat, I wrote an article suggesting Bazball was a cult. There was outrage, which proved the point since it’s clear how to confirm something definitely isn’t a cult is should followers react defensively denying scrutiny of the beliefs.

What has happened lately is just as interesting. Opposition to the style is now the trend. Online outrage is widespread, critical analysts, images of frustrated travelling fans cheated out of three days of cricket, reminiscent of people wanting fairness.

Conversely, we have the wider backdrop of the opponent’s mixed deep-seated frustration with the aggressive tourists, claiming, the methods you value and have honed as part of your identity from others, it’s just a joke in the end old boy.

And this is the real point. It’s all cults. The approach was a phenomenon because cricket is a cult. Or rather, the team has long been exclusive, a circle, a private event, an insular community with a long history of ceremonial past defining it. Historically, this was a place where power and access are hoarded. It’s the imperial sport of England, the early image-makers. And notably, Britain is itself a cult, a structure of hidden ranks, a royal family remains.

The team have been enclosed in this environment from a young age. Seeking change, to create a less brutal environment, they are simply replicating their past, forming a new circle, a limited community, however with a modern squad and a leader promoting authenticity if you fit the mold.

Live where your feet are. Embrace challenges. But no matter how fast and far you run, you remain stuck.

With this mind, it is perhaps the moment to have some sympathy for Bazball, to acknowledge its merits, of which there are many. What does it represent? Promoting liberation. Defying norms. Batting aggressively|Attacking with