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The Life Cycle of a Cult is often marked by distinct phases.

1. The Grand Vision

An inspiring figure or figureheads introduce an innovative concept that promises a solution for alienated and vulnerable people.

And so it goes. They’re getting ready to challenge the establishment in Australia. Pressure is mounting. Conflict emerges from the out-houses. An isolated player, vulnerable, nervous, the phrase ATTACKING MINDSET written on his body as a symbol, has stumbled through the lines and is removed with discretion towards an inconclusive loan stint in county cricket.

Do you ever miss the start, when the world was still young? The days of Bazball 1.0, of Bazball without brains.

2. Initial Adoration

Cult leaders promise a reboot, hope for a future, love, salvation within a community with shared faith in the method.

How did it feel at first? A team united feeling good. Body art. Forearms. Determination. Elite male wellness energy. Admittedly, England’s players will claim it’s not a real term, ironically as it’s denied, what was that spectacle?

But we know its essence. It’s the player attempting a move so unconventional it defies description. It’s the excitement of Ben Stokes in his final form, an expression conveying: focused titan, rugged appearance, untamed style, truly contemporary you almost imagine to notice and notice he’s fielding on the ground stripped to the waist and cradling a wild salmon.

It’s the batsman still being allowed speaking publicly, out there looking like a cheerful animal formally attired, uttering phrases such as we’re breaking down traditions. Indeed, the atmosphere, for quite a long time, was uplifting.

3. The Growth Phase

Development stage. Unity enforced through repetition of the cult’s slogans. These principles are often illogical as a loyalty check.

Is it just me? The backlash, the fury, the feeling of letdown after the first Ashes Test defeat seems too strong, too much. The batting collapsed during the match, as they often do in Australia. They were dominated in the field during a brief period as the bowling and captaincy fell apart, manipulated by Travis Head playing aggressively but smarter, responsive to the situation, a performer excelling with aura.

Now there is the pile-on, the anger, the view of the sport as a disgrace. The consensus is that losing isn’t enough, they need to lose righteously, to be purged, destroyed, destroyed through sheer skill of the bowler’s action, the simple basics of the veteran, marking his wickets with a bashful smile like he’s just been given a pleasant gift. What will this do to them?

4. The Backlash Phase

Issues emerge from failures in the plan. However, faults are ignored. It begins to thrive on anger towards critics.

The fact remains, half a week out the next match, we have now reached a delicious point of tension in the story of this movement. They might succeed in Brisbane with bold tactics. More likely, they could lose just as quickly. And if they do lose it feels like we really might be entering the decline.

Before that happens, a couple of points worth saying regarding this. In the past, back in those heady early days, of passion and hope, 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 if supporters respond with anger denying scrutiny of its truths.

Recent events in the last few days are fascinating. It seems that hating Bazball has turned into a movement. Online outrage is widespread, critical analysts, pictures of upset supporters abroad missing out on play, like a room full of people wanting fairness.

Meanwhile, there is the broader context of the host’s complex more culturally hard-wired exasperation towards the unconventional visitors, claiming, hey, that thing you love and have fostered and nurtured to distinguish yourselves culturally from us, it’s just a joke ultimately.

This is the core issue. It’s all cults. The style was a trend because cricket is a cult. Or rather, English cricket has always been a cult, a clique, a private event, an insular community with two hundred years of opaque and ritualistic cult history behind it. It has long been where influence is guarded. It’s the imperial sport of England, the pioneering brand. And notably, Britain is itself a cult, a series of esoteric hierarchies, a royal family remains.

England’s cricketers have been sealed up in this system for years. Seeking change, to foster positivity, they are simply replicating their own experience, forming a new circle, a closed circle, but doing it this time with 15 cool guys and a leader who wants you to be yourself as long as yourself is quite a lot like myself.

Live where your feet are. Run towards the danger. However much you change, things stay similar.

With this mind, it might be appropriate to show understanding for Bazball, to recognize its positives, which are significant. How to define it? Promoting liberation. Questioning traditions. Batting aggressively|Attacking with