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The Evolution of a Cult is often marked by specific steps.

1. The Big Idea

A charismatic leader or coaches present a new and transcendent idea offering a cure for alienated and vulnerable people.

And so it goes. Plans are in motion to challenge the establishment in Australia. The gunships are circling. Smoke is rising from the sidelines. A lone figure, exposed, nervous, the phrase ATTACKING MINDSET smeared across his chest as a statement, has come staggering through the lines and is taken aside under a blanket towards an inconclusive loan stint at Derbyshire.

Do you ever miss the beginning, when the world was still young? The era of early Bazball, of uninhibited aggression.

2. Love-Bombing

Team architects guarantee a fresh beginning, optimism ahead, camaraderie, success together who all believe in the philosophy.

How did it feel initially? A team united feeling good. Body art. Muscles. Focus. Peak performance vibes. Oh sure, England’s players will claim Bazball doesn’t actually exist, amusingly as it’s denied, what was that spectacle?

Yet it’s clear the concept. It’s Harry Brook playing a shot so unconventional it defies description. It’s the adrenaline of the leader in his final form, a demeanor suggesting: focused titan, strong features, untamed style, so authentically Modern Savage you wouldn’t be surprised to notice and find him positioned at mid-off stripped to the waist embracing nature.

It’s the opener often seen to talk in press conferences, out there looking like a joyful figure in a waistcoat, expressing thoughts like we’re challenging norms. Indeed, the atmosphere, for a significant period, was uplifting.

3. A New Life

Development stage. Togetherness strengthened by rote learning of key phrases. These ideas may seem irrational as a test of “true belief”.

Does anyone else feel? The criticism, the outrage, the sense of betrayal following the initial loss seems too strong, unwarranted. England batted badly in Perth, as history shows. They were savaged defensively for a couple of hours when tactics failed, outplayed by the opponent batting like England but better, adaptive to conditions, a performer excelling with a kind of light around him.

Currently, we see the pile-on, the anger, the perception of the team as a kind of abomination. The opinion suggests that England don’t just need to lose, they must be humbled, to be purged, flame-throwered, defeated through sheer skill of the bowler’s action, the simple basics of Scott Boland, seen enjoying his wickets humbly as if receiving a nice new fishing rod. What impact will this have?

4. The Backlash Phase

Problems arise due to setbacks. Yet, mistakes are denied. It turns to hostility externally.

The fact remains, a few days before from the second Test, we are at a delicious point of tension in the journey of this approach. Victory is possible in the next Test through aggressive play. More likely, they could lose just as quickly. And if they do lose it seems we really might be entering the final stage.

Ahead of this, a couple of points to consider about this. More than two years ago, at the start, of optimism and energy, I wrote an article suggesting Bazball was a cult. Criticism followed, which proved the point since it’s clear the best way of proving that it’s not a closed group is if supporters send hundreds of furiously one-eyed messages rejecting criticism of its truths.

Recent events in the last few days are fascinating. It seems that hating Bazball has now become the cult. We have a uniformly angry internet, angry English pundits, pictures of upset followers overseas disappointed by the short match, reminiscent of investors demanding recourse.

On the other hand, there is the broader context of the host’s complex deep-seated frustration with the aggressive tourists, out there saying, your cherished traditions and have honed as part of your identity from the opposition, well, it’s all a bit of a gag after all.

Here lies the truth. It’s all cults. The approach was a phenomenon as the game has its own culture. Or rather, the team has long been exclusive, a circle, an elite gathering, an insular community with centuries of tradition and mystery behind it. This has always been a place where power and access are hoarded. It’s the colonial game of the nation, the pioneering brand. And surprisingly, Britain is itself a cult, a system of unknown levels, a place that literally still has a king.

England’s cricketers have been sealed up in this environment for years. In trying to escape from it, to build a better atmosphere, they are just repeating their own experience, building another enclosure, a limited community, however with a modern squad and a leader encouraging individuality provided you conform.

Focus on the moment. Confront risks. However much you change, things stay similar.

With this mind, now is the time to show understanding for the approach, to appreciate its good points, which are significant. What is Bazball? Creating a sense of freedom. Challenging orthodoxies. Batting aggressively|Attacking with