Word ‘Bazball’ officially enters Collins English dictionary

The infamous word ‘Bazball’ has entered the Collins dictionary as it was widely used. The word was meant as a daring and risk-taking approach by England’s Test team. The term was coined after former New Zealand captain and current England Test team head coach, Brendon McCullum.

The word was described as “A Test cricket style characterized by an assertive and aggressive batting approach.” It will be featured in the upcoming print edition of the dictionary in 2024. Meanwhile, the Brendon McCullum-inspired word has already been included in the online version of the renowned publication.

Interestingly, following McCullum’s appointment as England’s coach, the use of the term ‘ Bazball’ increased nearly 400 percent between 2022 and 2023. Moreover, it was during the Ashes 2023 series, when England overcame a 2-0 deficit to earn an exciting 2-2 draw against the arch-rivals, Australia. Besides, Harper Collins revealed that the term became one of the top 10 new words of 2023.

The word is now frequently employed to characterize a daring, risk-taking approach in other fields as well. The UK prime minister Rishi Sunak’s political tactics too have been called a “political Bazball. Besides, England football manager Gareth Southgate had earlier stated that he was inspired by the test team’s approach. Meanwhile, Helen Newstead, language data consultant for Collins Dictionaries, stated that ‘Bazball’ was probably the most significant new word to emerge from the world of sport this year.

I don’t really like that silly term that people are throwing out there: Brendon McCullum

It is worth noting that England have won 13 off 18 Test matches since Brendon McCullum was appointed as the head coach. This represents a tremendous comeback for a team that had only won one off previous 17 Test matches. Notably, Ben Stokes was named captain of the Test side at the same time when the former Kiwi wicketkeeper-batter got appointed, with the star all-rounder spearheading the aggressive approach. In addition, McCullum had already expressed his dislike for the word, referring to it as “silly.”

“I don’t really like that silly term that people are throwing out there, because there’s actually quite a bit of thought that goes into how the guys manufacture their performances and when they put pressure on bowlers and which bowlers they put pressure on,” the Kiwi legend said last year.