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The Journey of a Movement is often defined by specific steps.

1. The Big Idea

A charismatic leader or coaches present an innovative concept pledging a panacea for alienated and vulnerable people.

And so it goes. Plans are in motion to confront the system in Australia. The gunships are circling. Smoke is rising from within. An isolated player, vulnerable, shivering, the slogan POSITIVE INTENT displayed prominently as a statement, has emerged through the lines and is taken aside in secrecy to a different team in county cricket.

Do you recall the beginning, when the world was still young? The initial phase, of pure instinct.

2. Initial Adoration

Movement founders promise a fresh beginning, hope for a future, love, success among a group with shared faith in the philosophy.

What did it represent back then? A team united basking in glory. Body art. Forearms. Focus. Confident masculinity. Of course, England’s players will claim they don’t use the label, amusingly since it’s not recognized, what was that spectacle?

Yet it’s clear the concept. It’s the player attempting a move so outrageous it has to be pixelated. It’s the excitement of the leader in ultimate mode, an expression conveying: focused titan, strong features, untamed style, truly contemporary you wouldn’t be surprised to glance over and notice he’s fielding in the field shirtless holding a fish.

It’s the batsman continuing to have permission to talk in press conferences, resembling a happy little woodland creature formally attired, expressing thoughts like we’re challenging norms. Indeed, the energy, initially, was uplifting.

3. Expansion Period

Building period. Togetherness strengthened through repetition of mantras. These beliefs may seem irrational as a test of “true belief”.

Does anyone else feel? The criticism, the outrage, the sense of betrayal post-defeat feels overblown, unwarranted. The batting collapsed on the field, as they often do in Australia. They were savaged in the field during a brief period as plans unraveled, manipulated by the batsman batting like England but better, adjusting to the pitch, a performer excelling with a kind of light around him.

Now there is the attacks, the frustration, the view of the sport as a failure. The consensus is that losing isn’t enough, they should be dismantled, to be scoured, obliterated, overwhelmed by the vengeful purity of Mitchell Starc’s movements, the conventional tactics of the veteran, seen enjoying achievements modestly as if receiving a nice new fishing rod. What will this do to them?

4. Hate Bonding

Challenges surface due to setbacks. However, faults are ignored. It turns to hostility externally.

Ultimately, approaching the next match, we have now reached a critical juncture in the story of this movement. Victory is possible in the next Test with bold tactics. Probably, they could lose just as quickly. And if they do lose it feels like we really might be entering the final stage.

Ahead of this, a couple of points to consider about this. More than two years ago, back in those heady early days, of optimism and energy, an piece was published calling it a phenomenon. Criticism followed, which was helpful as it’s known how to confirm lack of cult status is if supporters send hundreds of furiously one-eyed messages objecting to the questioning of the philosophy.

What has happened recently is just as interesting. Opposition to the style has now become the cult. Social media is furious, disappointed commentators, images of frustrated followers overseas cheated out of three days of cricket, similar to people wanting fairness.

On the other hand, exists the larger scene of the opponent’s mixed deep-seated frustration towards the unconventional visitors, claiming, the methods you value and have fostered and nurtured as one way of separating yourself from others, well, it’s all a bit of a gag in the end old boy.

Here lies the truth. Everything is a cult. The style was a trend since the sport itself is insular. Or at least, English cricket has always been a cult, a clique, a private event, a closed world with two hundred years of ceremonial past supporting it. It has long been a place where power and access are hoarded. It’s the imperial sport of the British, the pioneering brand. And notably, Britain is itself a cult, a structure of hidden ranks, a place that literally still has a king.

England’s cricketers have been enclosed in this system from a young age. Seeking change, to create a less brutal environment, they are just repeating their past, creating another a bubble, a closed circle, but doing it this time with a new team and a coach promoting authenticity as long as yourself is quite a lot like myself.

Stay present. Run towards the danger. However much you change, things stay similar.

Reflecting on this, it is perhaps the moment to offer compassion for the movement, to recognize its positives, that are numerous. How to define it? Promoting liberation. Challenging orthodoxies. Batting aggressively|Attacking with