India take on Bazball-inspired England in Hockey World Cup
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Loading... - alexander thodore
- 17 Jan 2023
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England's hockey team has adopted the new ultra-aggression of the Brendon McCullum-coached England men's Test team.
When India take on England in their second match of the hockey World Cup in Rourkela Sunday, they will run into a team that has taken a leaf out of the country’s trendsetting cricket team — the ultra-aggressive approach, especially when batting, known as ‘Bazball‘.
England have reached the semifinals of the last three hockey World Cups. But coming into this edition, they have ditched their slightly conservative approach and transformed into one of the fiercest attacking units in world hockey.
This is evident from some of their recent scorelines, including in Great Britain colours at the Olympics: 3-0 (vs the Netherlands), 2-2 (vs Argentina), 6-3 (vs South Africa), 2-3 (vs Australia) and 11-2 (vs Canada).
India opened their World Cup campaign with a 2-0 win over a young Spanish side that looked overawed by the occasion. But England will be their toughest test of the group stage as well as the biggest hurdle to finish on top of the group and automatically qualify for the quarterfinals.
The shift in England’s philosophy came after the departure of former coach Danny Kerry and the arrival of Paul Revington before last year’s Commonwealth Games. “Much more free-flowing, more attacking, more aggressive,” Sam Ward, one of England’s most prolific players, was quoted as saying by The Times, London. “We have gone down the ‘Bazball’ mentality.” Read More…
