Kerry O’Keeffe, a former Australian player, made an unexpected claim regarding the origin of England’s “Bazball” strategy. The well-known Australian claimed that the sad passing of Phillip Hughes in 2014 served as inspiration for the former New Zealand captain.
During a Sheffield Shield match, a ball struck Hughes in the upper neck, causing his death. The sad death of the young batter shocked McCullum, who was the captain of the Kiwis at the time. It also shocked many people around the world. Also, in a 2019 interview with SEN, McCullum talked about how upset he was about the bad thing that happened on the pitch and said that he would take a “happy-go-lucky” attitude.
“I’ll never forget that moment for the rest of my life. The fact that a cricket player could die in those circumstances showed us all that the game can be a matter of life and death. I think that gave us a go-with-the-flow attitude towards cricket,” Brendon McCullum told SEN.
In this way, Kerry O’Keeffe thinks that the death of Hughes is the cause of the English team’s aggressive style of cricket.
“Look, I blame Brendon McCullum for it (Bazball). I also put it down, and may Phillip Hughes rest in peace. Because that was one of Brendon McCullum’s most important moments in his career. In 2014, when Phillip Hughes died on the pitch, Brendon McCullum was New Zealand’s captain. O’Keeffe was reported by the Daily Mail as saying, “He said we were going to play without caring, without consequences, because we were going to play every day as if it were our last, and to hell with judgement.”
“You can play easily if you don’t care what happens and don’t feel like you’re being judged. This England team is doing that right now, and they’re so good at it. The seed started to grow when Phillip Hughes died,” he said.
The “Bazball” strategy has paid off well for the English team, as they have won 12 of their last 18 games. After Australia won the first Ashes Test, which was a very exciting game, England will try to even things up in the second red-ball match, which starts on June 28.
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