England\u2019s Test side has undergone a revolution<\/a> since McCullum was appointed head coach in 2022, with the New Zealander dramatically transforming the team\u2019s outlook on the game\u2019s longest format.<\/p>\nOnce the epitome of orthodoxy, the reinvigorated Test side has brushed aside 145 years of tradition through ultra-attacking batting, aggressive field placement and brave selection calls. He created a blueprint for success and the players bought into the ethos, unifying a broken team.<\/p>\n
The phenomenon, dubbed \u2018Bazball\u2019, has transformed one of cricket\u2019s most ridiculed teams into must-watch viewing, breathing life back into a format fighting for relevance in the sport\u2019s modern landscape. <\/p>\n
England enjoyed immediate success with their newfound approach \u2013 having won one of their 17 Tests before McCullum\u2019s appointment, they emerged victorious in ten of their next 11 matches. Rarely has a cricket coach\u2019s influence been so apparent and so immediate.<\/p>\n
However, McCullum has publicly stated that he\u2019s not a fan of the \u201csilly\u201d moniker used to describe England\u2019s Test side. \u2018Bazball\u2019 was added to the Collins Dictionary in 2023, but the term has apparently been banned in the English dressing room.<\/p>\n
Although \u2018Bazball\u2019 was first coined by ESPNcricinfo cricket reporter Andrew Miller in May 2022, the true origins of McCullum\u2019s Test philosophy came nearly eight years earlier.<\/p>\n
In November 2014, New Zealand was playing a Test match against Pakistan in Sharjah when news emerged of the sudden death of Phil Hughes, who suffered a severed artery after being struck on the neck during a Sheffield Shield match in Sydney.<\/p>\n
McCullum, the Black Caps captain, was shattered. A former teammate of Hughes, he had opened the batting alongside the New South Welshman during a T20 match against Victoria in early 2009, a few weeks before his Test debut.<\/p>\n
The second day of the Sharjah Test was abandoned, while there were concerns the match would be cancelled altogether.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy initial attitude was that we shouldn\u2019t be playing,\u201d McCullum recalled in 2016.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all hoped the game would be abandoned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phillip Hughes with Brendon McCullum.Source: News Limited<\/p>\n
That evening, McCullum phoned sports psychologist Gilbert Enoka, who had previously worked with the champion All Blacks, seeking advice on how to motivate his distraught teammates. Enoka responded: \u201cAll your preparation, all you have ever thought about in cricket, just throw it out the window for this one game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enoka\u2019s words resonated with McCullum. Before play on the postponed second day in Sharjah, the Black Caps captain told his teammates to play on instinct and forget everything they had learnt about preparation. He said there would be no judgement on performance and no consequences for failure.<\/p>\n
Play freely, he implored, as if it\u2019s your last day on the cricket field.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe outcome of the uncaring, no-consequence play was a revelation to me,\u201d McCullum reflected during his MCC Spirit of Cricket lecture.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstinct took over \u2014 no fear of failure, just playing and being in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pakistan, having dominated the opening two Tests and led the three-match series 1-0, were cruising at 3-281 when play resumed on day two. Seven hours later, the New Zealanders were 1-249 at stumps, with McCullum unbeaten on 153 having smacked a 78-ball century, a new national record.<\/p>\n
‘Greatest all-rounder to play the game’ | 03:52<\/p>\n
The following day, New Zealand was bowled out for 680, the team\u2019s highest Test score at the time, scoring at 4.81 per over. The innings featured 22 sixes, an all-time record that remains intact.<\/p>\n
McCullum scored 202 off 188 balls, an innings that featured 11 towering sixes. He later revealed that Hughes was on his mind when he passed each milestone.<\/p>\n
New Zealand won the match by an innings and 80 runs, levelling the series at 1-1. It was the nation\u2019s first victory against Pakistan in Asia in 18 years.<\/p>\n
The seeds of Bazball had been planted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe unlocked something during that Test match,\u201d McCullum continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way we played the rest of the match – it was so strange, yet it felt so right.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter Phil\u2019s death, we didn\u2019t care anymore about the result, because nothing we could do or couldn\u2019t do on the field really mattered in comparison to what had happened to Phil.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hughes\u2019 tragic death gave McCullum a new outlook on the sport, the consequences of which would be long-lasting. Not fearing failure, loving the game, having fun with your mates, not worrying about the result; these are the attitudes McCullum has instilled into England\u2019s Test side over the last three years.<\/p>\n
MCCULLUM\u2019S GOLDEN SWANSONG<\/p>\n
With his newfound mental freedom, the liberated McCullum became a calmer, more approachable player during the final 18 months of his international career, but his batting benefited as well. He averaged 50.10 across his final 12 Tests while maintaining an eye-watering strike rate of 100.40, compared to 60.62 before the Sharjah Test.<\/p>\n
On Boxing Day in 2014, McCullum cracked a 134-ball 195 during a low-scoring contest against Sri Lanka in Christchurch, one clean stroke away from posting the fastest double-hundred in Test history.<\/p>\n
His teammates followed suit. During the 2015 Headingley Test, the Black Caps clobbered 454 runs from 91 overs in a 199-run victory over England, New Zealand\u2019s first triumph in the United Kingdom since 1999.<\/p>\n
The Kiwis went unbeaten in seven consecutive Test series.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur perspective changed completely for the rest of my time playing Test cricket for New Zealand, and we were a much better side as a result,\u201d McCullum remembered.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so good to free the shackles, to genuinely love the game again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The following summer, McCullum farewelled international cricket with a 79-ball 145 against Australia in Christchurch, cracking four sixes and 16 fours in an extraordinary 124-minute blitz. Walking out to bat with the hosts in dire straits at 3-11 on a green seamer, he raced towards his century in just 54 balls.<\/p>\n
Among Australia\u2019s bowling attack that day was Hazlewood, who conceded 5.44 runs per over and became a victim of Bazball nearly seven years before its genesis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ball was doing heaps,\u201d Hazlewood recalled. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe played and missed the first five balls, and he just thought, \u2018Well, the only way I\u2019m going to get runs here is by slogging and basically playing a T20 innings.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cHe thought, \u2018Well, it is my last Test. I\u2019ll go down guns blazing\u2019, and he got 100 off like 50 balls.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a pretty amazing innings.\u201d<\/p>\n
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum. AAP Image\/Dave HuntSource: AAP<\/p>\n
Over a decade later, Australia\u2019s cricket stars see a correlation between how McCullum played the game and the current England team\u2019s attitude to batting.<\/p>\n
\u201cBaz is definitely a big influence,\u201d Hazlewood continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just taking that freedom mentality across to England, allowing them to play their natural game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australian spinner Nathan Lyon agreed: \u201cObviously it\u2019s a pretty similar coaching style to the way he played, looking from afar and bowling to him in the past. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see where England have taken a leaf out of Brendon\u2019s book and the way Baz approaches the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fast bowler Mitchell Starc, who famously knocked over McCullum during the first over of the 2015 World Cup final at the MCG, added: \u201cHe was always a sort of \u2018see-ball, hit-ball\u2019 player, a fearless cricketer who liked to take the game on.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could probably draw similarities from the way he played the game to how he now coaches the English team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wood sends scare through England camp | 02:26<\/p>\n
\u2018WHAT WOULD WARNIE DO?\u2019<\/p>\n
By his own admission, McCullum isn\u2019t a technical coach, rarely tinkering with batting stances or follow-throughs. He doesn\u2019t want his players to become over-analytical, instead encouraging them to trust their instincts and play to their strengths.<\/p>\n
They wouldn\u2019t be hounded if they made a mistake, or dropped if they played a reckless shot. Removing fear of failure, in his eyes, allowed talent to come to the fore.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an over-fascination with technique,\u201d McCullum declared recently.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s trying to free up these guys so they\u2019re not paralysed by a fear of failure or a fascination with technique, which I think has been quite prevalent throughout English cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since taking charge of England\u2019s Test side, McCullum has prioritised creating a relaxed environment for players and staff \u2013 and he leads by example. Whenever cameras pan towards the England dugout, you\u2019ll often see him lounging on the balcony with feet raised and his eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses.<\/p>\n
McCullum wanted England\u2019s players to learn to love the game again. Following last year\u2019s humbling 152-run loss to Pakistan in Multan, he raised morale within the touring camp by staging a six-hitting competition after the optional net session.<\/p>\n
Fun, as always, took precedence. <\/p>\n
\u201cI actually really like some of the mantras that he has and the way he goes about it. I\u2019m a bit the same with my cricket,\u201d Khawaja said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, the best way to perform is to make yourself and the team relax as much as possible so they can compete and just focus on the game. I think that\u2019s what he tries to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been really good for English cricket in general, just breaking the shackles a little bit, because they\u2019re so traditional in their ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCullum drew inspiration from Shane Warne. Photo by Hamish Blair\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Last year, McCullum revealed his coaching style also drew inspiration from the late, great Shane Warne, who passed away a couple of months before he was appointed England mentor.<\/p>\n
He believes Warne would have loved the Bazball philosophy and what it stood for.<\/p>\n
\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,\u201d McCullum said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes 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 <\/p>\n
\u201cHis impact on the game and on life and people will go on forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite everything McCullum has achieved during his coaching tenure, England still hasn\u2019t won a Test series against India and Australia, the other members of the \u2018big three\u2019, while they finished fifth in the most recent cycle of the World Test Championship.<\/p>\n
Asked if there was any chance of England taking a backward step, reining in their aggressive approach for the blockbuster tour, McCullum offered a defiant response.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think when we move away from our style of cricket, that is when we become vulnerable,\u201d McCullum told Sky Sports in July.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we stay true to what we believe in, backing it, and almost double down on the philosophy, it gives us our greatest opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additional reporting from Courtney Walsh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Usman Khawaja\u2019s first encounter with Brendon McCullum, during the 2011 Test series between Australia and New Zealand, wasn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-269467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269467","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=269467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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