‘Bazball’ now officially in the dictionary, one of the shortled entries Collins for Word of the Year 2023 | Cricket News

Bazball, British English (ˈbæzbɔːl) NOUN: a style of test cricket in which the batting side attempts to gain the initiative playing in a highly aggressive manner.Most Read
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Yes, the buzzword that has been doing the words in cricket circles for the brand of Test cricket played England under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes is not just a random coinage anymore. Makers of the Collins Dictionary said that it was one of the shortled entries for Word of the Year 2023.

Bazball is shortled for #CollinsWOTY 2023.
Discover the full l: https://t.co/gmsnCqA0yv#CollinsDictionary #WordoftheYear #Bazball pic.twitter.com/SjaWNYOH4D
— Collins Dictionary (@CollinsDict) November 1, 2023
Bazball is a term that came into cricket’s lexicon after England’s Test cricket fortunes swung under coach McCullum, the former New Zealand captain who was known for his aggressive style. Under Stokes’ leadership, England have adopted a go-for-win-at-all-costs attitude, and saw great early success with it.
It has only been reluctantly used the proponents of it. “I don’t have any idea what ‘Bazball’ is,” McCullum had told SEN radio in July last year. “It’s not just all crash and burn, if you look at the approach, and that’s why 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. There’s also times where they’ve absorbed pressure beautifully as well.”
On Wednesday, Cricket Australia asked about the addition of Bazball to the dictionary to Marnus Labuschagne. The response from the Aussie batter was one of surprise, and he ended the video saying: “Oh man, that is garbage. I don’t know what that is, honestly. I have no idea what you are talking about.”

‘Bazball’ in the dictionary? 📖🤔
#CWC23 pic.twitter.com/tlAdju5qVn
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 1, 2023
The nod for Word of the Year 2023 eventually went to “AI”: UNCOUNTABLE NOUN, AI is an abbreviation for artificial intelligence, the modelling of human mental functions computer programs. Some of the other shortled words are Canon event, Deinfluencing, Nepo ba.