England ride cricket’s Bazball approach at FIH Hockey World Cup 2023

England have adopted a new philosophy of playing a fearless and aggressive brand of hockey at the FIH Men's Hockey World Cup 2023 in Odisha. 

The philosophy, inspired by the England cricket team’s Bazball approach, paid dividends as it helped them pip 1975 champions India for the top spot on goal difference in their pool.

Bazball is a new brand of playing Test cricket adopted by England and named after its coach Brendon McCullum, a former New Zealand cricketer known for his aggressive batting style.

The approach calls for a team to go on the attack and take risks to earn wins, rather than play defensively, which is often the mode in Test match cricket. It’s hailed as an entertaining style of play and often results in high-scoring games.

Courtesy of their new style and mindset, England started the hockey World Cup with a 5-0 win over Wales and finished their group stage with another 4-0 thrashing of Spain. 

England featured in a 0-0 draw against India but did give the World Cup hosts  some jitters by winning eight penalty corners during the match.

England hockey coach Paul Revington, who joined the team in April last year, has been credited with introducing the Bazball approach within the team.

“The new coach’s philosophy is playing with freedom, giving us all the tools to go out and play as well as we can,” English forward Sam Ward told Olympics.com.

“They have obviously done it in cricket. We have been fed the same by our coach. We are going out there and playing with freedom and trying to play the most exciting style of hockey. And hopefully scoring a lot of goals,” Ward added.

The England cricket team, since adopting the Bazball approach, have won nine of their last 10 Test matches after a lengthy slump in form. 

England’s aggression helped them win the T20 World Cup in Australia last year. They are the first team in cricket history to hold ODI and T20 world championship titles at the same time. 

“We just don’t want them (the cricket team) winning World Cups, we want to win World Cups too,” Sam Ward said. “You are always going to follow any successful English team as much as possible. And for them to be performing how they are, spurs us on to train as hard as we can.”

Liam Ansell, a forward with the England hockey team, was particularly inspired by the 2019 ODI World Cup final, where England beat New Zealand in a last-ball thriller.

“They just went out there, expressed themselves, relying on their skill and trusting their instincts,” Ansell observed. “We have been given that little bit of freedom, so we are following in their footsteps a little bit.”

At the hockey World Cup 2023, England qualified directly for the quarter-finals having topped their group. They will be in action on January 25 once their quarter-final opponents are determined following the crossover matches.

England are yet to win the hockey World Cup. They reached the final in the 1986 edition but lost out to Australia. They have finished third at the FIH World Cup in each of the last three editions.