‘It does not imply we throw that plan out now’: Brendon McCullum doubles down on England’s Ashes strategy as Bazball D-Day looms
D-Day has come round rather more quickly than England had hoped. There are a maximum of 15 days left in these Ashes, and Ben Stokes’s side know they must win most of them if they are to turn a 2–0 deficit into a historic 3–2 win. In 148 years of Test cricket, no team has done that to Australia.
Beyond the raw numbers, though, lie wider questions – about the future of Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum, and the philosophy they have espoused since joining forces in 2022.
That turned into a heady summer, with England knocking off chases of 277, 296 and 296 to whitewash New Zealand, then a national-record 378 to beat India, before coming from behind to defeat South Africa. Later that year, they racked up 506 for four on the first day of their tour of Pakistan, en route to a historic 3–0 win.
Bazball was all the rage back then and, while McCullum hates the term, it has attached itself to him like a limpet to a ship’s hull, and used in evidence when the waters get choppy.
If they get even choppier in Adelaide this week, the project will be considered a failure by many, not least Australians who have regarded it with mockery and contempt from the start.
Until now, the Bazball era has produced 25 wins in 43 Tests, and only two series defeats out of 11. Equally, there is no doubt that this trip has long been the intended summit, regardless of the fact that McCullum’s contract is supposed to take him through to the home Ashes of 2027.
Does he consider it fair that three and a half years’ work will be considered to have gone up in smoke if England lose the third Test?
England coach Brendon McCullum maintains belief his side can get back into this Ashes series, despite staring down the barrel of another defeat Down Under
Questions will be asked regarding McCullum’s future if England are hammered by Australia this winter
‘It is what it is, right?’ he said. ‘We came here with high hopes and expectations, and we had a plan we felt would give ourselves the best chance of being successful.
‘We haven’t quite executed that so far in Australia, or seized those key moments, and hence they sit 2–0 up. It doesn’t mean we throw that plan out now.
‘If anything, we just need to chisel away at some of the things we haven’t got quite right, and make sure we still have that conviction in what we’re trying to achieve.’
McCullum tends to speak only at the end of a Test defeat. But he has grown increasingly paternal here in Australia, deliberately drawing the flak after the pink-ball game at the Gabba by suggesting his side had ‘over-trained’, and on Sunday holding the first press conference since his side returned from their four-day break in the holiday resort of Noosa.
‘That’s your job as a leader, and I’ll never shy away from protecting my players,’ he said. ‘There are times where you have to take your own scrutiny on board, and that’s fine. You sign up for these jobs because you know you’re tough enough to handle those situations.’
And there has been scrutiny, all right. The local media hammed up an altercation at Brisbane airport over the weekend between one of England’s security guards and a TV cameraman, but McCullum responded with the kind of calm he hopes will transmit to his players this week.
‘Obviously it wasn’t ideal,’ he said. ‘But hopefully it’s been dealt with and everyone’s able to move on. When you come to Australia, there’s a lot of intensity and scrutiny on everything you do. And I feel like we’ve managed ourselves pretty well throughout this tour.
‘It’s how you embrace that, how you’re able to lean into it, and how you’re still able to clear your mind when you walk out to play.’
McCullum, of course, was in charge when England last found themselves 2–0 down in the Ashes, in 2023. He nearly provoked sniggers on the Lord’s outfield by suggesting 3–2 had ‘a nice ring to it’, yet he almost got his wish.
Though many in Australia have erased the memory, Pat Cummins’s team were spared defeat only by five sessions of rain in Manchester. Now, England’s coach is sticking to the mantra, even if he has little choice.
‘We knew when we came here that we had to win three Tests to win the series,’ he said. ‘The fact that we’re 2–0 down means we’ve made it harder on ourselves, but it doesn’t stop the belief you have within the dressing-room.’
McCullum and captain Ben Stokes have spent the week rallying their troops
England blew a strong position in the opening Test in Perth but were second best for most of the day-night Test in Brisbane
Australia will continue to assail England from all angles, both before and during the Adelaide Test. The latest attack line is that the tourists turned down the chance to play a first-class match against Australia A at the MCG ahead of the series opener at Perth, though England insist the proposed dates were too close to the end of their white-ball tour of New Zealand to be feasible.
That is all history now. And McCullum is clinging to the belief that history is precisely what his team can make in the weeks ahead.
‘We’ve got to be quicker to adapt to conditions, and to the plans Australia set down, and be a little more calculated when we get the opportunity to put the foot on the throat. Australia are a resourceful team. They switch plans quickly and they buy into those plans quickly. We’ve probably been a little bit slow to do that so far.’
If England lose this week, and the tour unravels completely, that could well be the last meaningful rallying cry of McCullum’s reign. For the coach, and for Bazball, the stakes have never been higher.
