‘It’s a cult’: How Ashes greats reacted to Bazball axe call as Aussie duo issue warning

Brendon McCullum and England’s leadership cohort have survived the Ashes debacle but Aussie icon Adam Gilchrist said it is clear the rival regime needs to learn from the mistakes they made in a disastrous tour of Australia.

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Fellow Australian great Mark Waugh agrees, but said that neither McCullum or English captain Ben Stokes “are stupid” and will be mindful they need to implement changes to ensure they do not fall short against elite opposition.

The decision by the English Cricket Board to retain McCullum as coach, Ben Stokes as captain and the managing director Rob Key after the “Bazball” team underperformed amid instances of poor discipline has drawn contrasting views.

It is less than one year until England is back in Australia for the 150th Anniversary Test at the MCG and only 15 months until the return bout of the Ashes in the UK, a factor Gilchrist believes fell in favour of the current regime.

“It’s only 14 or 15 months till that Ashes return series starts, so you probably think, ‘well, it might be a bit too short a term to put a whole broom through and start a fresh approach with someone else’,” Gilchrist told foxsports.com.au.

“So maybe that’s worked in their favour, and the fact that the recently completed T20 World Cup was on, of course, and they got through and ended up having a pretty successful tournament in that regard (also helped).”

Gilchrist and Waugh were speaking to foxsports.com.au after the announcement this week of a blockbuster schedule for next summer that culminates in the 150th Anniversary Test at the MCG in March and includes tours of South African and India.

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Their views regarding the retention of McCullum mirror the assessment of former English captain Michael Atherton, who wrote in The Times that the “ECB has little appetite at this stage for significant upheaval and a hefty payout”.

As a result, those responsible for making the mistakes have been backed by the ECB to police and rectify them, a decision which bemused but did not surprise several former England and Australian cricketers.

Gilchrist said while England will clearly be more comfortable in a home series, they have to recognise and improve on areas that were below par in Australia, noting it is clear there are those in England at odds with the status quo.

Liam Livingstone, who played 100 games for England in all formats, raised concerns prior to the confirmation that McCullum and co would survive when talking about his own experiences with the current coaching regime last week.

He noted he had been provided little feedback when requesting coaching advice and that communication with McCullum and Key was minimal when he was on the fringe of the English team.

Gilchrist cited this example as an indication that there were cracks in the current system that needed consideration.

“Look, they’ve got to change something,” he said.

“The more we learnt (about the) ill-discipline that was filtering throughout that group, where it didn’t seem to allow them to play their best cricket - whether that’s an accurate assessment, that’s the observation, because we didn’t know much through (the summer) - but all we saw and heard about was ‘We’re all good. We’re happy. The tent is happy.’

“But already there’s some little fractures appearing from other people’s comments that weren’t so comfortable, the likes of Liam Livingstone and so on. But they’ve survived. It’s up to them now whether they think they need to change the approach.”

Waugh felt the future of the cohort was in the balance leaving Australia and that, having been given an opportunity, they need to tinker with the way they have approached Test cricket.

“It was probably a 50-50 call,” he said.

“A lot of people probably thought England maybe needed a new direction but they have showed faith in Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes who, since they have taken over, had done a pretty good job initially playing games and winning with a very positive attitude. But in the real tests against the top teams they have fallen short.

“But there is no doubt they have to change their ways. Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, they are not stupid. They will realise the mistakes they made on the tour in Australia. They are going to have a chance to turn that around.”

That includes making changes to the ultra-aggressive approach dubbed “BazBall” which, on flat tracks, enabled England’s batters to score runs freely but fell apart against a good attack in spicier conditions in Australia.

“The basics of playing cricket and playing to win, that is really good, but you need more than one game plan, especially against good teams. You are probably going to lose games you should win if you are just going to play one way,” Waugh said.

“I’m sure they will have learnt their lessons, and if they haven’t learnt their lessons, they are going to get the same results for the next 12 months and lose more than they win. The proof is going to be in the pudding. Let’s see if they learn from their mistakes.”

Former England captains Michael Vaughan, a Fox Cricket expert analyst, and Alastair Cook hosted Key on a BBC Podcast after the decision was announced on Monday, with the latter bemused by the amount of “management speak” used.

“It just got a bit confusing there. And you’re right. It ... feels like a cult,” Cook said.

“(Key’s) played international cricket. He was a great pundit on Sky. He’s not daft. He’s definitely not daft. But the perception that comes across ... is McCullum was going to do it his way and if you weren’t going to do it his way, whether you’re the managing director of England cricket or the players, then tough, because it was Brendon’s way or the highway.

“That’s how it comes across. That might not be right, but that’s how it comes across.”

Vaughan believes the trio are “very, very lucky” as “there are not many management groups who have delivered something so poor” who would have survived the axe.

He is pleased McCullum will have more contact with the County cricket coaches but believes the Kiwi should travel to the UK earlier this summer to attend matches and meet players in person and must improve his focus on the finer details.

“They have now got the opportunity to fine tune a little better. The attention to detail needs to stay,” Vaughan told the BBC.

“It can’t just be spiel on a Monday night and then, by the time we get to the summer, they’ve won a couple of games and we go back to what’s been done before. That attention to detail has to stay, because there’s some challenges ahead.

“New Zealand at home is not an easy one. Then India come for some white ball. Pakistan at home. South Africa away for a three match series with them trying to get into the World Test Championship finals. So that’s not going to be easy.”

Irrespective of the review, Gilchrist is well aware that the English team will be harder to defeat at home. And he feels the fallout from the most recent summer will add to the hype surrounding the next series.

The Ashes series away falls at the end of a run of Test cricket for Australia that Gilchrist said was exceptional given the Aussies face England, South Africa and India away along with Bangladesh and New Zealand at home.

“Of course, playing in the conditions in England are going to be a little bit more suited to them, so to speak,” he said.

“It’s all going to make for another intriguing build up, isn’t it? Already we’re talking about it. Australia’s got so much to play up until then. Who knows what the line-up of Australia looks like? So it’ll make another exciting build up.”

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