Brendon McCullum has watched England get humiliated inside two days in Perth, seen Bazball torn apart by former captains and pundits, and still refused to blink. In the middle of an eight-wicket defeat that left Australia 1-0 up in the ongoing Ashes, and the whole Bazball project under siege, the head coach’s message was blunt: the style isn’t the problem, and they are not changing it.
Ben Stokes talks to Brendon McCullum during a practice session at Perth Stadium in Perth.(AFP)
Instead of retreating into damage control, McCullum has doubled down on the philosophy that turned England from a drifting Test side into headline makers. “I’m pretty confident of the way we go about things,” he said, insisting that the only way back in the Ashes is to lean harder into their identity, not run from it.
McCullum stands tall in Bazball defence
McCullum’s defence of Bazball starts with the dressing-room itself. While talking in a media interaction, he said, “The last few years, we’ve built a set-up which is connected, it’s tight, and we play a style of cricket that we believe gives us our best chance,” effectively telling critics that this is not a fad but the core of England’s Test reset.
That is why any talk of ripping it up after one bad Test gets short shrift. “If we go away from that, then we’re in trouble,” McCullum warned. For him, abandoning the method now would be more dangerous than another collapse, because it would tear at the very belief that has powered England’s revival under Stokes.
He is equally clear that “playing safe” is off the table. “There’s no point trying to play for safety per se,” he said. “We’ve just got to keep backing our approach and be strong, and keep believing in what we are doing. That will give us the best chance to bounce back.”
To supporters furious at the way England imploded from 65/1 in the second innings before Travis Head’s 123 off 83 balls finished them off, McCullum’s message is deliberately simple. “I’d say keep the faith,” he urged. “We know what our best game is, what gives us our greatest opportunity.”
He also reminded everyone that this isn’t the first time his side has taken a two-day punch. “We’ve been in this situation before…. We played South Africa and lost in two days that first Test and came back and won that series 2-1,” he pointed out, framing Perth as a setback within a larger pattern rather than a referendum on Bazball itself.
Brendon McCullum even leans into the risk. “Sometimes we get beaten, and sometimes it looks pretty ugly, but having that mentality allows us to still believe in our abilities next time we step out to play,” he said. In other words, if Bazball creates the kind of chaos that just burned England in Perth, it is also the same fire he trusts to light their way back into the series.