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A New Year inevitably leads to looking ahead at what is coming up and 2023 offers plenty to get excited about, including, for the first time in the same year, continental Games in Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania and Pan America and a FIFA Women’s World Cup that will highlight female football in a way that has never happened before.
Plus, it is now next year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris – how did that come round so quickly? – meaning that events like the World Athletics and World Aquatics Championships will take on even more significance.
Personally, though, the event that is getting me most excited this year is the Ashes series between England and Australia, the oldest rivalry in cricket and one which you cannot fully comprehend how important it is unless you are from one of the two participating countries.
The term “the Ashes” originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, The Sporting Times, immediately after Australia’s 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Test win on English soil.
The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and “the body will be cremated, and the ashes taken to Australia”.
The mythical Ashes immediately became associated with the 1882 – 1883 series played in Australia, before which the English captain Ivo Bligh had vowed to “regain those Ashes”. The English media therefore dubbed the tour the quest to regain the Ashes.
Each of the fortunes of the two countries have ebbed and flowed down the years and, going into the 73rd Ashes series, Australia holds a slight advantage, having won 34 and England 32, with six drawn.
What is exciting every English fan for this latest series is the “Bazball” revolution which is threatening to do to Test cricket what Dick Fosbury did to the high jump.
Under the new management team of coach Brendon McCullum, who the term “Bazball” is coined after the New Zealander’s long-time nickname, and captain Ben Stokes, England have adopted an approach of attacking play previously unseen in nearly 250 years of Test cricket.
Bazball prioritises high scoring matches rather than playing defensive cricket and trying to preserve wickets at all costs. The tactic encourages a team to take risks in pursuit of victory rather than playing it safe.
They have won eight out of nine games and have played no draws at all. A draw in a match lasting five days is one of the things that everyone not brought up on cricket struggles to understand.
In an interview with the International Cricket Council, Australia’s former captain Ricky Ponting said the approach of McCullum and Stokes is not to shy away or hide out from the threat of defeat but rather face it head-on and try to put yourself in a position where victory becomes a possibility where previously it looked impossible.
The critics of Bazball claimed after England had beaten New Zealand and South Africa last summer that it could only work in English bowling conditions. But then England went to Pakistan in conditions they normally struggle in and beat the home side 3-0 in the three-match series.
That included victory in the First Test in Rawalpindi on a pitch which heavily favoured the batter, a point borne out when England scored a record 500 plus runs on the opening day. But a series of aggressive field placements and an ultra-risky declaration saw England pull off a highly unlikely victory late on the fifth day.
On the same docile wicket earlier in the year, Australia and Pakistan played out one of the all-time bore draws, with 1,187 runs scored for the loss of just 14 wickets during five days.
“They’re playing like they don’t give a shit, England,” former captain Michael Vaughan told foxsports.com.au last month. “That’s the way they’re playing. They’re like, ‘We don’t care if we lose.’
“[Australia] better get ready because the juggernaut is not easy to play against.
“I honestly think Ben [Stokes] and Baz [McCullum] have revolutionised Test cricket.
“The more you look at the approach that they’re going for, the more it makes sense, the more it fits into the modern player, the more that you realise that’s what they’re pretty much brought up to do these days [be attacking].
“So why not do it in Test match cricket?”
Interest in Test cricket outside England has been in decline for several years now, with fans preferring to watch shorter formats like T20, The Hundred and T10.
McCullum arrived as England coach with no experience of working at Test level but, in his opening interview, boldly claimed that his team would rescue the traditional format of the sport.
Approaches like Bazball, a term the England team do not like, are clearly necessary to help attract a younger audience.
The current Australian team have so far been fairly dismissive of England’s new style, and it is true, that if it fails in the Ashes series, which is due to open at Edgbaston in Birmingham on June 16, then it could be written off as a flash in the pan.
But Australian legend Mark Waugh likes what he has seen so far. “I just think it’s great for the game,” he said. “And I think other captains and nations should have a look at how they’re playing the game.”
Duncan Mackay is the founding editor of insidethegames.biz, the world’s leading and most influential independent Olympic news website. He was voted the British Sports Writer of the Year in 2004, British News Story of the Year in 2004 and British Sports Internet Reporter of the Year in 2009. Mackay is one of Britain’s best-connected journalists and during the 16 years he worked at The Guardian and The Observer he regularly broke several major exclusive stories. He was also the only newspaper journalist in Britain to correctly predict that London would win its bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
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The ECB – Event Executive (FTC – February to October 2023) – London, United Kingdom
We have a hugely exciting opportunity for an Event Executive to join The Events team. The Event Executive will support managers to jointly plan and deliver the World Test Championship Final 2023 and The Hundred across England and Wales. The England and Wales Cricket Board is the national governing body for all cricket in England and Wales, supporting the game at every level – from grassroots to professional. We know that Cricket is a force for good and makes an enduring impact on people’s lives. It provides great entertainment. It teaches important skills, both physical and social. It can help inclusion and social cohesion. It’s something for everyone to watch, play or enjoy, across genders, age, disability and diverse communities. The ECB welcomes applications from all backgrounds to ensure we deliver our Inspiring Generations strategy and fulfil our purpose to connect communities and improve lives through cricket.
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