{"id":255933,"date":"2025-11-11T01:24:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T01:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/255933\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T01:24:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T01:24:14","slug":"aussies-hate-bazball-but-brendon-mccullum-is-shaped-by-cricket-down-under","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/255933\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussies hate Bazball but Brendon McCullum is shaped by cricket down under"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was in February 2002 in Sydney that a 20-year-old Brendon McCullum, having only made his international debut a couple of weeks earlier, was 12th man for New Zealand against South Africa in the second final of the tri-nations VB series that Australia had remarkably not reached. And as McCullum has since recounted in his autobiography, while running the drinks on and off he \u201ccouldn\u2019t help noticing a certain blonde with a lovely smile sitting a couple of rows back\u201d.<\/p>\n

The blonde, Ellissa Arthur, would soon become Mrs McCullum and before that, a few months after they met, McCullum would return to Sydney to be with her and begin a journey of Australian influence upon his cricket that extends to this day in his role as the head coach of England. The Australians, as evidenced by the comical newspaper headlines that have been greeting England\u2019s cricketers every day since arriving in Australia, love to hate \u201cBazball\u201d, but the ironic truth is that it is mostly down to them that England now play that way.<\/p>\n

In Sydney, McCullum played club cricket for Balmain while Steve Rixon, the former wicketkeeper who had previously coached New Zealand, was in charge of New South Wales (NSW) and almost daily would oversee specialist keeping sessions with McCullum and the NSW wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.<\/p>\n

\"Brendon<\/p>\n

McCullum met his wife, Ellissa, in Sydney<\/p>\n

PHIL WALTER\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

After those practices McCullum would hang around the NSW net sessions, where the likes of the Waugh brothers, Steve and Mark, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Michael Slater and Stuart MacGill were strutting their stuff. And they were strutting, apparently. \u201cThese guys were the best of the best at the time and they knew it,\u201d McCullum, now 44, wrote in his autobiography. \u201cThey had a bit of a swagger about them, an aura, a bit like the one around the All Blacks. I watched how they carried themselves, their confidence and arrogance, and thought that was the way to do it. From then on, for the next few years, I tried to carry myself like one of them, tried to play like an Australian.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, while McCullum learnt much about the skill levels and work ethic required, aping that more unedifying side of the Australian players led to trouble when in 2006 he ran out Muttiah Muralitharan, who was celebrating a century by his Sri Lanka colleague Kumar Sangakkara. It is an incident McCullum deeply regrets. \u201cI wasted a few years trying to be brash and arrogant and hard-minded,\u201d he has said, \u201cIt was a false attitude, not true to my character.\u201d And it was one for which he apologised when giving the MCC Spirit of Cricket lecture at Lord\u2019s in 2016. \u201cIf I could turn back time, I would,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were within the laws of the game but not the spirit \u2014 and there is a very important difference, which is glaringly obvious to me years later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which is what McCullum and the England team were getting at when Australia so controversially stumped Jonny Bairstow at Lord\u2019s in 2023, prompting an enraged McCullum to say: \u201cI can\u2019t imagine we\u2019ll be having a beer with them any time soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

So while McCullum\u2019s relationship with Australia has been crucial to his development, it has not always been smooth. The late Andrew Symonds once called him \u201ca lump of shit\u201d, even if only in jest, after a row erupted when NSW recruited him for the final of the 2008-09 Big Bash, a storm that was easily quelled by McCullum donating his $6,000 match fee to help junior cricket back home in Otago.<\/p>\n

Even Haddin, his erstwhile training partner, whose aggressive approach as \u201cthe ugly Australian on the field\u201d was dismissed by McCullum in his autobiography as \u201call piss and wind\u201d, had a pop when arriving in England for the 2015 Ashes. \u201cWe are not New Zealand, we won the World Cup final,\u201d he said, pointedly.<\/p>\n

\"Jonny<\/p>\n

McCullum was furious when Australia stumped Bairstow in 2023 after the England batsman wandered out of his crease believing the ball was dead<\/p>\n

TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND<\/p>\n

New Zealand, who had lost that World Cup final months earlier in Melbourne (with captain McCullum crucially out in the first over), had toured England that summer and won hearts and minds with their chivalrous attitude. McCullum had become so popular he was engaged as an Ashes columnist by the Daily Mail, where he made his feelings clear on some of the Australians\u2019 behaviour, calling out their captain, Steve Smith, for not recalling Ben Stokes when he was given out obstructing the field and David Warner for not applauding Joe Root\u2019s century in Cardiff.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion it was something that was quite poor and immature on his behalf,\u201d Warner responded. \u201cAt the end of the day you\u2019re not playing for the Spirit of Cricket Award are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

And Mitchell Johnson tweeted: \u201cI find it strange when someone keeps telling the world how nice they are! You wouldn\u2019t need to say anything if it\u2019s true!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Captains<\/p>\n

McCullum\u2019s New Zealand were beaten by Australia in the 2015 World Cup final<\/p>\n

MICHAEL DODGE\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Go back to November 2014, though, and it was another Australian who had a profound effect upon McCullum. He was captaining New Zealand in the third Test against Pakistan in Sharjah when news reached them on the second morning that Phil Hughes had died after being struck the previous day by a bouncer from Sean Abbott.<\/p>\n

McCullum had opened the batting with Hughes in the 2009 Big Bash final and \u201cgot on really well\u201d with him then and thereafter. He was \u201cbroken\u201d, as were his team and their opponents. No one wanted to play and, understandably, they did not do so on the scheduled day two.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

McCullum was profoundly affected by the death of Hughes in 2014<\/p>\n

AAMIR QURESHI\/AFP\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

At a loss what to do, McCullum phoned Gilbert Enoka, the former All Blacks mental skills coach who worked with McCullum\u2019s England Test team last summer and will do so again for the first Ashes Test. Enoka offered the advice that \u201call your preparation, all you have ever thought about in cricket, just throw it out the window for this game\u201d.<\/p>\n

So when play did restart, that is what they did, with McCullum stressing that \u201cthere won\u2019t be any harsh judgment on any player\u2019s performance and there\u2019ll be no consequences for failure\u201d. New Zealand won the Test by an innings and 80 runs to level the series, with McCullum making a double-century. The spirit of Bazball was born.<\/p>\n

By the 2015 World Cup, in which New Zealand beat Australia in a pool game before losing the final, the former Australia spinner Ashley Mallett was waxing lyrical about McCullum and New Zealand on ESPN Cricinfo. \u201cAustralians don\u2019t always doff their hat to Kiwi cricketers \u2014 the Trans-Tasman rivalry has endured since Don Bradman was a boy. Perhaps it is simply big brother knowing by sheer weight of numbers they should always beat New Zealand at anything, anywhere, at any time. But what Australians do know, and don\u2019t always tell their cross-sea cousins, is that we have always admired the Kiwi spirit, and the way New Zealand always punch above their weight.<\/p>\n

\u201cMcCullum has brought great belief to New Zealand. He leads from the front, but as a captain, and we\u2019ve seen it in spades this World Cup. He is like the great Australian captains such as Ian Chappell, Mark Taylor and Michael Clarke: he tries to make things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

Australia were impressed by McCullum\u2019s leadership style as a player<\/p>\n

GARETH COPLEY\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

The truth was actually that McCullum was, and still is, finding his greatest inspiration from the greatest captain Australia never had \u2014 Shane Warne. Remember that famous Big Bash match in 2011 between Melbourne Stars and Brisbane Heat when Warne told TV viewers how he was going to get McCullum out before he did?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe might try to shape to sweep after that first one or maybe go inside out again a bit harder, so I\u2019m gonna try to slide one in there, fast,\u201d Warne said. McCullum duly attempted a sweep and was bowled.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the oracle, isn\u2019t he? He\u2019s a genius,\u201d McCullum said afterwards. \u201cI was trying to pay respect by looking to play a fine lap shot to him to get off strike then try to attack the other guys. But he was just too good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rob Key, England\u2019s managing director, has often said that getting to know Warne around the poker table during rain breaks in Kent v Hampshire matches shaped his whole thinking on the game, while England captain Stokes worked with Warne at Rajasthan Royals. As for McCullum, he has said: \u201cSometimes in the job that we\u2019re in with England at the moment, and the way we\u2019re trying to play, it\u2019s everything that Shane Warne would have wanted the game to have been done. Sometimes we\u2019re midway through a game, we don\u2019t know whether to stick or twist and you know you\u2019ve got messages to deliver to the team. I often think, \u2018what would Warnie do?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

McCullum ended both his Test and ODI careers in 2016 with guards of honour from the Australians, a sure sign that he had truly earned Australian respect, and he certainly went out in style in the Test match at Christchurch, scything his way to what is still the fastest century in Test cricket (54 balls). Sadly, it could not bring a Kiwi victory, though, and McCullum finished his Test career with only one win in 16 attempts against the Australians.<\/p>\n

We know very well that England last won a Test in Australia in 2011, but that was also the last time New Zealand beat Australia in Tests anywhere, with McCullum opening the batting with moderate success (scoring 16 &12) in the seven-run victory on a New Zealand-style green one at Hobart. McCullum averaged only 24.31 in his nine Tests in Australia, a figure that rose to 34.23 at home in seven matches. He averaged only 28.76 in ODIs against them, with New Zealand winning only 14 of the 47 matches in which he played.<\/p>\n

So McCullum knows all too well how tough this Ashes series is about to be. Indeed, New Zealand have won only eight of the 62 Tests they have played against Australia. As Haddin wrote for ESPN Cricinfo when lauding McCullum\u2019s retirement in 2016: \u201cFor all their achievements, I still believe a mental hurdle does exist for New Zealand when it comes to facing Australia, particularly in Test matches. We have always viewed the Ashes as our No1 goal, and often that has added to the pressure of a series. For the Black Caps, their equivalent is to face Australia, and they would love nothing more than to come out on top.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result, there\u2019s a lot of pressure both externally and internally to beat Australia. I know from personal experience that we faced numerous New Zealand teams in the past that, deep down, were not sure if they believed they could beat us. Under Brendon, belief has grown enormously within New Zealand cricket, but those little demons of self-doubt will still be there in some form.\u201d<\/p>\n

They will be there for England too this winter, because they have not won in 15 Tests in Australia since 2011. Can McCullum make them believe? He knows the country and its cricketers well enough, for sure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was in February 2002 in Sydney that a 20-year-old Brendon McCullum, having only made his international debut…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-255933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-cricket","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}