It looks like the 4-1 drubbing handed to Ben Stokes and co. in the India vs England Test series has broken ‘Bazball’. With no scope for actual or moral victory, England’s head coach, Brendon McCullum, has conceded that they need to be ‘smarter’ with the comments they make.
McCullum was talking about several arrogant and outlandish comments they made during the 5-match series. Ben Duckett said that ‘the more, the better’ when asked how many runs England would feel confident about chasing in Rajkot. In the end, they lost the match by 434 runs, the biggest loss any team has suffered in India.
“We do have belief within our group. It has taken a bit of a hit over the last couple of weeks. We have to be smarter with those comments,” McCullum said of the many outlandish comments.
Duckett had also claimed that they deserved credit for Yashasvi Jaiswal batting aggressively, while James Anderson claimed that they’d chase 600 in Vizag, a match they lost by 106 runs while chasing 399 in the fourth inning. Despite claiming they needed to be smarter, Brendon McCullum defended his players, saying:
“It is fine to inwardly believe what you can achieve, but just be a bit smarter around how we say things sometimes. But it is people growing up in the environment, right? They are not the finished articles yet, and surely they shouldn’t be hung for making a positive comment in the media that might be construed as arrogance. It is not arrogance, just confidence in the group.”
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