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BazBall creator declares the phenomenon "is dead"
SEN • December 9th, 2025 1:10 pm
The creator of BazBall, Andrew Miller, has labelled the style of play dead after the second Ashes Test defeat in Brisbane.
Miller coined the term during 2022, shortly after McCullum was appointed as England’s coach, as more of a prediction than anything.
While England hadn’t played any Tests under McCullum when the phrase was first created, Miller could see the writing on the wall that things were going to change rapidly under the Kiwi and captain Ben Stokes following the departure of Chris Silverwood as coach.
“Fundamentally, I came up with the label as a prediction rather than a reaction,” Miller told SEN Mornings.
“I think this is kind of why it stuck. It was just an off-the-cuff remark in a podcast, when Brendan McCullum was appointed in May 2022.
“It was a couple of months before they played the first Test under him, and it was hardly a great leap of faith that with Brendon McCullum as the new Test coach, things were going to be different.
“I said, ‘Well, by midsummer we'll all be playing BazBall, won't we?’. It kind of snowballed from there, but it never really got defined.
“I suppose this is part of the problem with the word, and England loathed it from the outset, and I’ve got no issue with that. The more you try to suppress something you don't want to talk about, the more people want to talk about it.”
Since taking over, everything under McCullum and Stokes, including England’s selection and tactics, has been geared towards winning in Australia in this series.
Now 2-0 down with three Tests to go, Miller is seeing signs that Stokes is moving away from what he’s been preaching since taking over as England’s aggressive tactics and always positive approach have come unstuck in Perth and Brisbane.
“But I feel like it's got to that point that whatever we saw in the last Test is certainly not what it was at its height in 2022 and the 2023 Ashes,” Miller said.
“In that home Ashes, they were in a zone that was quite something to behold, and they're not in that zone anymore.
“I feel like that mentality has been lost, and it's not coming back. So, I've kind of assumed that it's over, even if England do fight back now.
“What Ben Stokes said the other day, basically taking the team to task saying that, ‘There's no place for weak men in my team’, he's never said anything like that at all in his three and a half years as captain.
“He's been very nurturing, all about the team environment, all about trying to build up his players so you make them feel 100 feet tall.
“There’s none of that now. He’s saying I don’t care how you feel about this. I just want you to get over yourselves and get out there and fight for me. That’s not the mentality that England have gone into pretty much every other Test of his career as captain.
“For that reason, I believe BazBall is dead, and I don't think it's coming back.”
If things continue to go downhill for England and McCullum, some Aussie greats have been floated as a potential replacement to take the side forward.
