“We refined it” – Brendon McCullum on England’s Bazball approach to settle for a 2-2 Ashes draw
England head coach Brendon McCullum credited the Ben Stokes-led side for sticking to the aggressive brand of cricket despite going 0-2 behind before settling for a 2-2 draw in Ashes 2023.
The 41-year-old said that Bazball is all about backing yourself to play your natural game without fear of failure. The veteran added that, at times, their style of play can backfire, especially against quality teams like Australia, who initially took a 2-0 lead in the series.
Brendon McCullum was quoted as saying by the BBC:
“For us, that is our best chance of winning. From our point of view, the most pleasing aspect is when we were under the most pressure at 2-0 down, we stayed true to that and were able to manufacture some results that allowed us to walk away at 2-2.”
He continued:
“What we are trying to do is allow ourselves to get in a space in our own minds where it allows your talent to come out. If you're weighed down by fear of failure or by external noise, all you're doing is suffocating that talent. So it's as simple as that.”
McCullum added:
“Sometimes, we'll get the balance wrong with the style we play, but you've got teams good enough to stand up to you and make you pay when the time comes and Australia did that in the first couple of Test matches. But we refined it slightly as the series wore on.”
Brendon McCullum further lauded English opener Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, who amassed 480 and 321 runs in the series, respectively.
“Ben Duckett's turned into a really serious player at the top of the order for us. He's had a great series and touching on Zak, coming into the series he was under quite a lot of pressure. Then 480 runs at a strike rate of nearly 90 against the best bowling attack in the world, against the Duke's ball in an Ashes series, people don't do that, you know?”
18 Tests under Stokes & McCullum 🤙
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“Their legacies will carry on to the next generation” – Brendon McCullum on Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali’s retirement
Brendon McCullum further lauded Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali for ending their careers on a high note. He said that their legacies will carry on.
"We'll miss them, but they have left a huge imprint on the side. It's been great to have them around and I'm sure their legacies will carry on to the next generation."
Broad, in particular, signed off with 604 wickets in 167 Tests, including the most wickets in Ashes history (153).
England will play their next Test series in India, starting in January 2024. On this, McCullum said:
“There'll be different challenges for each member of the squad and the coaching staff over the next little while.”
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Stokes and McCullum have now managed to win 13 out of 18 Tests since taking their respective roles in June last year.