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The Journey of a Cult can be marked by specific steps.

1. The Grand Vision

A dominant personality or coaches introduce an innovative concept pledging a cure for alienated and vulnerable people.

And so it goes. Plans are in motion to challenge the establishment in Australia. Tensions are rising. Conflict emerges from the sidelines. An isolated player, naked, shivering, the slogan POSITIVE INTENT displayed prominently as a statement, has emerged into view and is being led away with discretion for a temporary assignment elsewhere.

Do you ever miss the start, when optimism reigned? The days of Bazball 1.0, of uninhibited aggression.

2. Love-Bombing

Movement founders guarantee a fresh beginning, optimism ahead, love, salvation together with shared faith in the philosophy.

What was this thing back then? Just men on a balcony feeling good. Tattoos. Forearms. Determination. Confident masculinity. Of course, The team will claim it’s not a real term, which is funny because if it doesn’t exist, what did we see?

However, everyone understands the concept. It’s the batsman executing a stroke so outrageous it’s beyond belief. It’s the excitement of Ben Stokes in ultimate mode, a look that says: thoughtful warrior, rugged appearance, natural look, genuinely raw you almost imagine to glance over and see him playing on the ground bare-chested embracing nature.

It’s the batsman often seen addressing the media, resembling a happy little woodland creature formally attired, saying stuff like we are actively deconstructing the orange. Certainly, the energy, for a significant period, was entirely positive.

3. Expansion Period

Building period. Unity enforced via memorization of the cult’s slogans. These principles can appear contradictory to prove commitment.

Am I alone? The backlash, the fury, the feeling of letdown post-defeat seems too strong, too much. The performance was poor in Perth, as history shows. They were savaged defensively during a brief period as the bowling and captaincy fell apart, outplayed by the batsman playing aggressively but smarter, adaptive to conditions, a performer excelling with aura.

And now we have this the criticism, the frustration, the sense of English Test cricket as a failure. The consensus is that losing isn’t enough, they need to lose righteously, to be scoured, flame-throwered, destroyed via traditional methods of Mitchell Starc’s movements, the simple basics of the veteran, out there celebrating successes modestly like he’s just been given a pleasant gift. What impact will this have?

4. The Backlash Phase

Problems arise due to setbacks. But the cult cannot admit errors. It begins to thrive on hatred of the outside world.

In truth, half a week out the upcoming game, we’ve entered an intriguing moment in the journey of this approach. They might succeed in the next Test in a blur of adrenal disruption. Alternatively, they could lose just as quickly. And if they do lose it appears we could be witnessing the final stage.

Ahead of this, several aspects worth saying regarding this. In the past, back in those heady early days, of passion and hope, an piece was published calling it a phenomenon. There was outrage, which demonstrated because everyone knows the best way of proving something definitely isn’t a cult is if supporters react defensively rejecting criticism of the beliefs.

What has happened lately are fascinating. Opposition to the style has turned into a movement. Online outrage is widespread, critical analysts, pictures of upset supporters abroad disappointed by the short match, like a room full of people wanting fairness.

Conversely, there is the broader context of the opponent’s mixed ingrained annoyance at these weirdly passive-aggressive buccaneers, stating, hey, that thing you love and have fostered and nurtured as one way of separating yourself from others, well, it’s all a bit of a gag after all.

Here lies the truth. Everything is a cult. The style was a trend as the game has its own culture. Or at least, the sport in England is closed, a circle, a garden party, a closed world with centuries of tradition and mystery behind it. This has always been where entry is limited. It’s the imperial sport of the nation, the early image-makers. And notably, the nation has its own culture, a system of unknown levels, a place that literally still has a king.

The team have been isolated in this environment since childhood. In trying to escape from it, to foster positivity, they are mirroring their own experience, building another enclosure, a limited community, however with 15 cool guys and a leader who wants you to be yourself as long as yourself is quite a lot like myself.

Focus on the moment. Confront risks. However much you change, you remain stuck.

Reflecting on this, now is the time to show understanding for the approach, to acknowledge its merits, which are significant. How to define it? Encouraging expression. Challenging orthodoxies. Batting aggressively|Attacking with