Over-50 World Cup: England 'not quite addressing 'bazball' - Giles Ecclestone

Ecclestone has hailed test captain Ben Stokes' "phenomenaly brave" approach since taking charge last year.

But he told BBC Essex: "Most of us are just trying to get through the first few games without getting injured."< /p>

The Over-50 World Cup began on Monday, with England beating Namibia by 204 points in their first group match.

Ecclestone made 44 before a 185 stand between David Snellgrove (118 not eliminated) and Steve Chapman (101) propelled them to a 307-3 aggregate and the Namibia mustered just 103-8 in response.

England also have in their pool the South Africa, India, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and Wales, with over 45 games played per side.

"There are ambitions in over-50 cricket. You have to be a little realistic about what your body can handle," said Ecclestone, 54, from Essex.

"It could potentially be 10 games in 18 days and it's about 30 degrees here, so you need to be in good shape to get through this at 50.

"We want to play positively, most definitely; we have to play good aggressive cricket to win. That's the mentality - it's not quite 'Bazball' but maybe on the way."

"When I think back to cricket there is 30 years old, when I was in my early twenties, and in and out of the Essex setup, it would have been nice to have this kind of message coming from the top," Ecclestone said.

"It was a very different situation back then and a few of us are those kind of cricketers who would probably have thrived with that kind of a positive view of cricket rather than feeling handcuffed by what was traditionally considered the right way to play first-class cricket."

The 14-team 50+ tournament in the Cape Town region had to be rescheduled after being scrapped in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Ecclestone recalls: "I've been waiting for this for a long time with We were here three years ago just when Covid first hit.

"We were halfway through the tournament and suddenly we mrs walked off the pitch against Namibia to be greeted by [great South Africa] Barry Richards saying we need to have an emergency meeting with all the teams.

"He delivered the message that the tournament was canceled with immediate effect. It was probably the most disappointing feeling I have ever had from a cricketing perspective. Everyone was disgusted because it was such a fantastic first week."

Ecclestone thinks England has good win the title despite the round...