Brendon McCullum explains why criticism of England’s ‘Bazball’ style of cricket has been ‘disrespectful’

Brendon McCullum admitted his frustration with the “disrespectful” way his style of coaching the England team has been characterised.

England have won 25 of their 41 Tests under McCullum, having been victorious in one of 17 before then, although they have not beaten India or Australia in a series in the New Zealander’s three-year tenure.

An attack-minded approach, especially with the bat, has been dubbed ‘Bazball’ and has polarised opinion, but McCullum feels their strategy has been unfairly misconstrued and simplified.

Speaking to Stuart Broad and Jos Buttler on the pair’s ‘For the Love of Cricket’ podcast, McCullum said: “We never have that kind of mindset – we’re not rigid in how we go about things.

“I think there’s a misconception that how we play is we swing the bat as hard as we can, we try and take wickets and then we go and play golf and have a few beers.

“I find it slightly disrespectful to all of you (players) and the people involved in this set-up who work so hard and have such clear determination of wanting to succeed to have it so simply categorised.”

McCullum, who expanded his brief at the start of the year to include taking the reins of England’s white-ball sides, insisted his priority is to declutter the minds of his players, which in his view allows them to give the best of themselves on the field.

McCullum said: “It’s trying to create an environment which allows you to handle the pressures of international cricket and understand the size of the task but not be restricted in your ability to go out and play.

“You want your talent to come out, I hate seeing talent stymied. Having a certain style or a belief in how we want to play gives us our best chance of being able to succeed.”

After a gripping 2-2 draw against India this summer, McCullum’s next major assignment is this winter’s Ashes in Australia, where England will attempt to regain the urn for the first time since 2015.

McCullum added: “Man for man, there’s not much in it between the two sides. There will be some times where one team gets a bit of luck and the other team doesn’t, and that could be the deciding factor.

“For us, the biggest thing is how we handle the external pressure; how connected, how united can we stay regardless of the outcome in games to be able to make sure we make the best possible decisions in the highest pressure situations and allow our talent to come out.

“If we do that, we’ll give ourselves every opportunity.”

PA

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