{"id":284717,"date":"2025-11-14T20:54:52","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T20:54:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/284717\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T20:54:52","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T20:54:52","slug":"australian-cricket-great-glenn-mcgrath-on-bazballs-self-absorbed-hubris-ahead-of-the-ashes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/284717\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian cricket great Glenn McGrath on Bazball\u2019s self-absorbed hubris ahead of the Ashes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian cricket<\/a> great Glenn McGrath says the self-absorption with which England play their cricket is \u201crubbish\u201d.<\/p>\n

Under the leadership axis of coach Brendon \u2018Baz\u2019 McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, the English men\u2019s Test team have adopted the brash and uber-aggressive game style that the cricket world has come to know as Bazball.<\/p>\n

At times, it has been devastatingly effective. After McCullum was appointed in 2022, England won seven Tests in a row, including becoming the first team to clean sweep a three-match series in Pakistan, and did so with record-shattering run-rates.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

But on balance, they\u2019ve finished fifth and fourth inhhj the past two World Test Championship tables respectively, they\u2019ve won 14 of their past 28 Tests, and just five of their past 15 against fellow \u2018Big Three\u2019 nations India and Australia \u2014 10 of which were on home soil.<\/p>\n

Objectively, they read as the stats of an average Test cricket team. Certainly not one worth a chapter in the history books of the game.<\/p>\n

And yet, it remains without doubt that England \u2014 with stars like Harry Brook, Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer \u2014 can produce extraordinary, match-winning acts of brilliance which really do live on in the memory.<\/p>\n

McGrath played in Australia\u2019s most successful men\u2019s team in history during the late 1990s and early 2000s. With Shane Warne, he formed arguably the greatest one-two bowling punch the game has ever seen.<\/p>\n

Under the captaincy of Steve Waugh first, and then Ricky Ponting later, the unstoppable Aussies twice won 16 consecutive Tests \u2014 once between 1999-2001, and then again between 2005-2008. It\u2019s a joint record that no team may ever come close to again.<\/p>\n

Those teams were as aggressive as any \u2014 but the difference between them and the current-day England team, McGrath says, was the accountability with which Australia\u2019s game was grounded.<\/p>\n

\"GlennGlenn McGrath and Shane Warne were Australia\u2019s greatest ever one-two punch. Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the concept of Bazball,\u201d McGrath, who is a Toyota Ambassador, told 7NEWS.com.au.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way England play, they either play incredibly well or they\u2019re just s***.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing with Bazball is, I like it when players go out and back themselves and play without fear. But they\u2019re also saying, \u2018There\u2019s no pressure. If you get out playing a bad shot at the wrong time, you\u2019re not going to be penalised for it\u2019, so there\u2019s no accountability, which I think is rubbish.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe great players play under that pressure \u2014 but have accountability, and they play without fear.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo go out and say, \u2018Oh no, just play how you want, no pressure\u2019, trying to take pressure off, I think is definitely the wrong way to go. That\u2019s where you\u2019re going to get a lot of average performances because they\u2019re not as mentally tough as they should be. That\u2019s my view on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat team I played in in the late 90s, early 2000s, we played a similar brand of cricket, but we loved the pressure, and that\u2019s when the best came out in us. We had that accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the difference. Bazball\u2019s great, but instead of trying to get rid of pressure, enjoy it and absorb it and go out and play without fear, instead of trying to play without pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my look on it. If they could do that, they could do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Australia beat England in the thrilling first Test at Edgbaston to go 1-0 up in the 2023 away Ashes series, you\u2019d be forgiven for thinking in the aftermath that in fact it was the English who won the game, such was the hosts\u2019 hubris.<\/p>\n

Watch the Ashes series live and free on Seven and 7plus Sport<\/a><\/p>\n

\"PatPat Cummins after hitting the winning runs at Edgbaston in 2023. Credit: Visionhaus\/Visionhaus\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Immediately after the game, McCullum told the players: \u201cLads, I\u2019m immensely proud of the efforts that you\u2019ve put in, we\u2019ve made the game what it was.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were so close to pulling off an unbelievable victory. We played all the cricket in the game. If it wasn\u2019t for us, the Australians wouldn\u2019t have even had a chance to win. It feels like we\u2019ve won, lads.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two days after the game, fast bowler Ollie Robinson wrote an article<\/a> for Wisden which, at best, was a gaslit stretch of the truth, and at worst, was bordering on delusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about more than just winning a Test match,\u201d he wrote after the loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause at the end of the day, stats are forgotten. It\u2019s more than that. We\u2019re trying to create memories and be that team that everyone still speaks about in 20-30 years\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were surprised by how defensive Australia were and how unwilling they were to go toe-to-toe with us.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course it sounds weird because they won it, but I think if they\u2019re honest, Australia will look at themselves and realise they need to change their approach to keep up with how we\u2019re going to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OllieOllie Robinson has not played for England in nearly two years. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n

Robinson hasn\u2019t played for England since being dropped nearly two years ago.<\/p>\n

Australia took the same calculated approach to the second Test at Lord\u2019s and won, going 2-0 up in the series.<\/p>\n

England played the better cricket thereafter though and, if not for a rain-soaked fourth Test at Manchester, would have almost certainly won the series 3-2 and regained the Ashes urn.<\/p>\n

After that fourth Test, Stokes told his players that regardless of the scoreline, they had already transcended the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reward for our work isn\u2019t what we get but what we become,\u201d he said during a rallying speech in the Old Trafford dressing room.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what we have managed to do is we\u2019ve managed to become a sports team that will live forever in the memory of people who were lucky enough to witness us play cricket.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s going to be a bit flat, I know it\u2019s going to hurt that we go into the next game (at The Oval) not being able to get the urn back.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what we have done is something a lot bigger than any Ashes trophy could ever signify for this team \u2014 be the team that everybody will always remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BrendonBrendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have changed the way England plays the game. Credit: Gareth Copley\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

McGrath\u2019s iconic team actually does live forever in the memory of people who were lucky enough to witness them play cricket. Which is because they won games of cricket.<\/p>\n

He says it\u2019s not for Stokes and his teammates to be the arbiters of the game\u2019s folklore.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy only other issue with that is the people talking up Bazball and their performances are themselves, which is rubbish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not up to the current players to judge how they\u2019re going; \u2018Oh, we\u2019re setting a new standard in the game, oh we\u2019re so entertaining\u2019 \u2014 that\u2019s all bulls***.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about the public and your peers saying that.\u201d<\/p>\n

England\u2019s current side is now just seven days away from what McCullum has dubbed \u201cthe biggest series of all of our lives\u201d.<\/p>\n

Under the Stokes-McCullum regime, England have openly said for several years now that they have purpose-built their team and structured their program specifically to win the Ashes in Australia over these next seven weeks.<\/p>\n

England are 0-13 in their past 15 Test matches on Australian soil. They haven\u2019t won a red-ball game Down Under since 2011.<\/p>\n

When the visitors last tasted victory down here, Ben Stokes was still a teenager and Usman Khawaja, who is closing in on 39, made his debut.<\/p>\n

If they are to overturn 15 years of grim history in Australia, England would do well to take a leaf out of the book of their opponents\u2019 history.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Baz is a great guy. Whether that\u2019s the way he played, I don\u2019t know how he handled pressure,\u201d McGrath said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut your great players handle pressure and look forward to pressure, and that\u2019s the difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they could just change that attitude a little bit, I think they\u2019d do a lot better. You can\u2019t just go out and be world-beaters one week and play absolute garbage the next.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the team that I was lucky enough to play in, we didn\u2019t come out and say that. We didn\u2019t even consider that we\u2019d be selected for the next game. It was just about performing at our best, at our peak.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t own that position in the team, but we had that respect for it and just backed ourselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always felt if we played as well as we could, no one could beat us. And it was that attitude, that aura, that you create around the team by the way other people view you, not how you view yourself internally.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Aussie bowler ruled out as scans reveal bad Ashes news<\/p>\n

3 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Australia plunged into injury crisis with double blow on eve of Ashes<\/p>\n

1 min read<\/p>\n

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