Why are so many cricketers obsessed by golf?
England's cricketers are discovering the truth of the old adage that a sports team can do what they like when they are winning, but not when they lose.
Their love of golf was integral to the free-wheeling early months of Bazball when morning nets began with head coach Brendon McCullum announcing news of afternoon tee-off times. Making cricket fun again meant shorter training sessions, shorter matches — and more golf.
No one minded when they won ten of their first 11 Tests or battered Australia at the back end of the 2023 Ashes, but since then results have been mixed, culminating in a humiliating white-ball tour of India and the Champions Trophy in Pakistan this year which brought one win in seven weeks.
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