Toxic Bazculinity

CP adds a new phrase to the lexicon

Where, exactly, is rock bottom? I would like to visit.

Sydney feels the most likely location. You can dig there from Adelaide, through to Melbourne and then come up around the Randwick area. The destination preordained. The misery of the trip gravitational.

For years, this England team has preferred to be in pain than to be bored. Wasteful shots in periods of difficulty considered attacking rather than cowardly. I loved it. It was fun. It was bonkers. It didn’t work. Except for when it did. And that was fine.

Then, after four years of relentless toxic bazculinity, England arrived at the Gabba on day four of this series and decided that to fight was to defend. Ben Stokes blocked and Will Jacks weaved. It was a delaying of the inevitable, but a necessary one for the group’s sanity. This time, the pain was to be endured.