🔗 Share this article

The Life Cycle of a Cult can be marked by specific steps.

1. The Core Concept

A dominant personality or coaches introduce a revolutionary approach offering a cure for alienated and vulnerable people.

So here we are. Preparations are underway to storm the compound in Australia. The gunships are circling. Smoke is rising from within. An isolated player, exposed, shivering, the words HIGH RELEASE POINT written on his body in chicken blood, has stumbled from the field and is taken aside in secrecy to a different team elsewhere.

Do you ever miss the early days, when optimism reigned? The era of early Bazball, of Bazball without brains.

2. Love-Bombing

Cult leaders promise a new start, a brighter tomorrow, support, salvation within a community who all believe in the philosophy.

What was this thing at first? Players celebrating enjoying success. Ink. Muscles. Focus. Peak performance vibes. Of course, The team will claim it’s not a real term, amusingly as it’s denied, what exactly did I just watch?

Yet it’s clear the concept. It’s Harry Brook attempting a move so unconventional it’s beyond belief. It’s the excitement of the leader at his peak, a demeanor suggesting: pensive Nordic god, strong features, natural look, truly contemporary you wouldn’t be surprised to glance over and see him playing in the field shirtless embracing nature.

It’s Ben Duckett continuing to have permission to talk in press conferences, out there looking like a cheerful animal formally attired, expressing thoughts like we’re breaking down traditions. Certainly, the vibe, for quite a long time, was entirely positive.

3. A New Life

Development stage. Cohesion maintained by rote learning of key phrases. These ideas may seem irrational as a loyalty check.

Is it just me? The backlash, the anger, the sense of betrayal after the first Ashes Test defeat feels overblown, too much. The performance was poor during the match, as is typical there. They were dominated in the field for a couple of hours when tactics failed, outplayed by the opponent batting like England but better, adaptive to conditions, an athlete shining with aura.

Now there is the criticism, the frustration, the view of the sport as a kind of abomination. The feeling seems to be that losing isn’t enough, they need to lose righteously, to be cleansed, obliterated, destroyed via traditional methods of the pace attack, the conventional tactics of the bowler, marking his wickets modestly as if receiving a nice new fishing rod. What will this do to them?

4. The Backlash Phase

Problems arise because of mistakes. However, faults are ignored. It turns to anger towards critics.

The fact remains, a few days before the next match, we’ve entered a delicious point of tension in the lifespan of this movement. England could quite easily win in Brisbane with bold tactics. More likely, defeat could come swiftly. Should they fail it feels like we could be witnessing the final stage.

Ahead of this, several aspects worth saying about this. More than two years ago, during the initial excitement, of light and heat, an piece was published labeling it a movement. There was outrage, which was helpful as it’s known the best way of proving something definitely isn’t a cult is when its acolytes send hundreds of furiously one-eyed messages denying scrutiny of the philosophy.

What has happened recently is just as interesting. Opposition to the style has now become the cult. We have a uniformly angry internet, disappointed commentators, pictures of upset travelling fans disappointed by the short match, like a room full of people wanting fairness.

Meanwhile, exists the larger scene of Australia’s more nuanced ingrained annoyance at these weirdly passive-aggressive buccaneers, stating, hey, that thing you love and have developed as part of your identity from others, well, it’s all a bit of a gag after all.

And this is the real point. It’s all cults. The style was a trend as the game has its own culture. In fact, the team has long been exclusive, a group, a private event, an insular community with two hundred years of ceremonial past supporting it. Historically, this was a place where power and access are hoarded. It’s the imperial sport of the British, the original sports washers. And notably, the country is a phenomenon, a series of esoteric hierarchies, a monarchy still exists.

The team have been isolated within this world for years. In trying to escape from it, to foster positivity, they are simply replicating their own experience, building another enclosure, a limited community, but now with 15 cool guys and a mentor encouraging individuality as long as yourself is quite a lot like myself.

Focus on the moment. Confront risks. However much you change, you remain stuck.

Considering this, it might be appropriate to have some sympathy for the approach, to recognize its positives, of which there are many. What is Bazball? Creating a sense of freedom. Questioning traditions. Batting aggressively|Attacking with