Brendon McCullum is excited about the “magic” that could occur in the Ashes and has promised England will not move away from their aggressive approach at the first sign of danger.
England begin an eagerly-anticipated summer with a one-off Test against Ireland at Lord’s on Thursday, but already much of the discourse is around the upcoming series with Australia.
After a string of poor showings both on home soil and Down Under, the script book was ripped up this time last year when Rob Key, managing director of men’s cricket at the England and Wales Cricket Board, decided to pair captain Ben Stokes and head coach McCullum together to revitalise red-ball cricket in this country.
The results were devastating with ‘Bazball’ taking the nation by storm with run-rates going through the roof, draws being discarded and the pressure of losing taken away, but the perennial question throughout England’s run of 10 wins from 12 Tests has been, can it be taken into the high-pressure stakes of an Ashes series?
McCullum said: “It’s a challenge, but it’s an exciting challenge.
“The more that’s at stake, the more it’s important to keep it simple and relaxed, to do what gives you your greatest chance.
“At the first sign of trouble you can’t run away from it, or at the first sign of all the eyeballs in the world watching you, you can’t run away from what’s been most successful for you.
“That’s when you should be at your clearest, keep things as simple as possible and that will be the message right throughout.”
Former New Zealand wicket-keeper McCullum is no stranger to battles with Australia, but modestly and perhaps unfairly suggested he was only good enough to scrap against teams wearing the baggy greens.
That is not the case for his England side, the 41-year-old insists.
“I’m not as good as these guys are, so you always felt like you were scrapping for something rather than being able to go toe to toe with them (Australia),” McCullum added.
“The ability to go toe-to-toe with a good side is where the magic happens.
“I think we’ve got the quality in our team and they’ve got the quality in their team to be a heavyweight contest so I’m excited about that.
“There’s so much excitement about what’s coming and there’s so much uncertainty for everyone and that’s where I think the real magic has the opportunity to come out. so we’re just excited about it.”
England’s ‘Bazball’ approach has been heavily debated since it arrived on the scene and at its height, Stokes’ side were scoring at 5.50 runs per over in Pakistan during the winter.
Whether or not that can be replicated remains to be seen, but McCullum does feel they should only get more consistent with time.
“To be fair, there’s some stuff we did last year that I didn’t really think was achievable but the guys were able to do it,” he admitted.
“If you are present and clear of mind, you’re able to make good decisions because you’re not worried about the outcome as such, you’re just able to adapt to what’s required.
“There will be periods where we’ll have to absorb pressure. It may also be that we’ll be able to put the handle down a bit more and achieve what we did last summer. We’ll just wait and see.”
A key part of England’s philosophy is a relaxed environment and spending quality time together, which occurred on Sunday when the team linked up for the first time – since the New Zealand series in February – for a round of golf at the Grove in Hertfordshire.
After facing Ireland this week, England will have 11 days before the Ashes opener at Edgbaston on June 16, but that will not be spent exclusively together, with a mixture of days off, training and some “quality time” arranged before the battle for the urn begins.
McCullum stated: “I think it’s a good build-up, I think it’s perfect.”
One man not set to be involved is Ben Foakes after he was left out of the Ireland Test in favour of the fit-again Jonny Bairstow, who will don the gloves and try to replicate his stunning 2022 form where he hit six hundreds.
“Well, I mean he’s an incredible player,” McCullum said of Bairstow.
“He’s a rare commodity and he’s able to do some things that other people just can’t.
“I think if he’s able to recapture even a glimpse of the form which he showed last summer, then our side does look really, really strong.”
IPL: Royals downed by big-hitting Capitals
Rajasthan Royals failed to chase down the Delhi Capitals, who claimed a 20-run victory in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday.
Sanju Samson struck 86 off 46 balls for the second-placed Royals, but the Capitals successfully defended their haul of 221.
Jake Fraser-McGurk's 20-ball 50 set the tone for the Capitals, who are well in the play-off hunt with two matches remaining.
Fellow opener Abishek Porel plundered 65, with Tristan Stubbs adding a useful 41 towards the end of the innings, with Ravichandran Ashwin (3-24) the only Royals bowler to do significant damage.
Kuldeep Yadav (2-25) and Mukesh Kumar (2-30) led the way with the ball for Delhi, with the latter taking the vital wicket of Samson in the 16th over, leaving the Royals with too much to do from 162-4.
Delhi have won three of their last four matches and are making a late run for the play-offs, as one of four teams tied on 12 points.
Data Debrief: Samson soars
It took Samson just 31 minutes to amass 86 runs before he was eventually dismissed, with the loss of his wicket all but ending the Royals' hopes.
In the process, he moved into third place in the IPL run-scorers chart, up from 11th, with 471 runs to his name this season. He trails only Ruturaj Gaikwad (541) and Virat Kohli (542).
Seales takes 5-29 in second innings to help Sussex complete innings and 124-run rout of Derbyshire
Jayden Seales is now the leading wicket-taker after five rounds of the County Championship Division Two after another stellar performance to help Sussex rout Derbyshire by an innings and 124 runs at the County Ground in Derby from May 3-5.
Seales took 1-54 from 14 overs in the first innings as Derbyshire were bowled out for 246 in 63.3 overs after Sussex won the toss.
Luis Reece (50), Blair Tickner (47) and Aneurin Donald (44) were the top run-scorers against 2-6 from James Coles and 2-65, each, from Ollie Robinson and Fynn Hudson-Prentice.
Cheteshwar Pujara then starred with the bat with 113 off 186 balls as Sussex piled up 479 off 109.4 overs in their first innings.
James Coles (72), Tom Alsop (64) and Tom Haines (58) provided good support for Pujara against three-wicket hauls from Daryn Dupavillon and Jack Morley.
Seales then produced an excellent spell of bowling to help restrict Derbyshire to just 109 all out in 26 overs.
He took 5-29 from his eight overs, taking his tally this season to 18 in four games. Danny Lamb also bowled well with 2-10 from four overs.
Full Scores: Derbyshire 246 off 63.3 overs (Luis Reece 50, Blair Tickner 47, Aneurin Donald 44, James Coles 2-6, Ollie Robinson 2-65, Fynn Hudson-Prentice 2-65) & 109 off 26 overs (Jayden Seales 5-29, Danny Lamb 2-10)
Sussex 479 off 109.4 overs (Cheteshwar Pujara 113, James Coles 72, Tom Alsop 64, Tom Haines 58, Daryn Dupavillon 3-89, Jack Morley 3-117, Luis Reece 2-32)
IPL: Yadav century ends Mumbai's losing streak in style
Suryakumar Yadav scored an unbeaten century to lead Mumbai Indians to a seven-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League on Monday.
Yadav hit a sensational 102 not out off 51 balls with six maximums as Mumbai successfully chased a target of 174 with 16 balls to spare, lifting them off the foot of the table.
Despite a slow start to the Indians' innings in which SRH took three wickets in the first five overs, Yadav’s introduction turned things around as he put on a partnership of 143 with Tilak Varma (37 not-out).
Sunrisers had started well, with Travis Head reeling off a quick 48, but Piyush Chawla (3-33) and Hardik Pandya (3-31) limited Hyderabad to 173-8, with Anshul Kamboj claiming his maiden IPL wicket by bowling out Mayank Agarwal.
Pat Cummins finished with a flurry, knocking 35 runs from 17 balls, and the Australia captain helped SRH put the Indians on the ropes when he dismissed Rohit Sharma in the fourth over.
Yet Mumbai would lose only one more wicket as Yadav inspired them to victory that snapped a four-match losing run.
Data Debrief: Yadav star of the show
This was Yadav's first IPL hundred of the season, with his knock including 18 boundaries (12 fours, six sixes), taking him up to 334 runs so far this campaign.
He is 16th in the overall rankings, and some 108 runs behind leader Virat Kohli.
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