Nathan Lyon has taken a shot at England’s Test side, labelling Bazball “a load of s***” in an interview on an Australian TV Show, The Front Bar.
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Appearing on the show behind a bar while taking questions from the hosts sat on stools in front of him, Lyon was asked what Bazball was. He responded: “Well I’m 2-0 against Bazball so I’m pretty happy about it.
“To me it’s a load of s*** if you ask me. It’s a brand of cricket that the English want to keep going, now it’s in the dictionary which is pretty remarkable.”
The term was added to the Collins dictionary earlier this month. It’s defined as “a style of test cricket in which the batting side attempts to gain the initiative by playing in a highly aggressive manner”. The terms was coined by ESPNCricinfo journalist Andrew Miller, following the aggressive style of play England adopted when Brendon McCullum took over as head coach of the men’s Test side.
There was plenty of debate over the term during the 2023 Ashes series, which ended in a 2-2 draw from which Australia retained the urn. Lyon featured in the first two Tests of the series which Australia won, before he picked up a calf injury in the Lord’s Test match which ruled him out of the remainder of the series.
England went on to win the third and fifth Tests to finish the series level. Lyon took nine wickets across the three innings he bowled in during the series.
There has been plenty of other responses to Bazball from the Australia players involved in the series. Marnus Labuschagne labelled the decision to include the term in the dictionary as ‘garbage’, during an interview with cricket.com.au. Lyon has previously said he “did not see Bazball” in the two Ashes Tests he played.
