Coach’s assessment of innings defeat at Lord’s at odds with Ben Stokes but minimal changes expected for Old Trafford
mid the fallout from England’s defeat in the first Test – one that left Lord’s empty on the fourth day and afforded South Africa a few more Castle lagers on Friday night – the message from Brendon McCullum was simple: his players did not go hard enough.
But much as with the backing of Zak Crawley, a player who in normal circumstances might have been humanely whipped out of the firing line by now, McCullum sees things differently: those numbers are simplistic and do not reflect certain passages where in his mind England retreated from their stated desire to take the positive option.
“When the game was in the balance and a couple of spells from their boys were testing, we could maybe have been a little braver to be able to turn some pressure back on the opposition – in both innings. McCullum dislikes the term Bazball, believing it to be far too reductive, but whatever the name of the project it is clear the tenets will not be changing. After all, a ledger that read one win from 17 in Test cricket not long ago now reads four wins from five this summer, even if he claimed results are not a topic of dressing-room conversation.
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