LONDON: The newly-appointed head coach of England Men’s Test side Brendon McCullum labelled the famous term Baz-Ball ‘silly’, which was coined in homage to England’s new approach in Test cricket.
England’s Test side, which had only won one of their previous 17 Tests, appeared to have found their lost touch under the new leadership of head coach McCullum and skipper Ben Stokes, as the side has now won three consecutive Tests against New Zealand and one against India.
In those four consecutive victories, England put on a fresh aggressive approach on display and successfully amassed 275-plus total in all the matches with ease including a record 378 run chase against India with seven wickets to spare.
Following England’s new approach, a new term ‘Baz-Ball’ emerged, named after England head coach McCullum’s nickname ‘Baz,’ who, however, insisted that the strategy has a deeper meaning.
“That’s why I don’t really like that silly term that people are throwing out there,” McCullum said on SEN Radio.
“Because there’s actually quite a bit of thought that goes into how the guys manufacture their performances and when they put pressure on bowlers and which bowlers they put pressure on. There’s also times where they’ve absorbed pressure beautifully as well,” he added.
While McCullum has been overjoyed with how his reign has begun, he knows that tough Tests lie ahead, with South Africa touring later this summer and Australia hosting the Ashes in a year.
“It’s been a tremendous month, [but] we know that there’s big challenges to come, one of which will be the Aussie boys, but we’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing, McCullum concluded.
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