Kmflett's Blog

The contradictions of England Test Cricket. ‘It’s good fun’ (but the results are not)

England haven’t won a cricket Test in Australia for 15 years and are currently 3-0 down in the 2025/6 Ashes series with two games to play.

The lack of success in general can hardly be surprise except for the point that under the current Head Coach Brendan McCullum with the approach the media have termed ‘Bazball’ it was meant to have changed. Initially when McCullum took over in 2022 it did and it needed to. More recently results have been less good.

There are specific issues with the current team and series, including a lack of preparation and the selection of players who fit in with the Bazball ethos whether or not they are really the best available.

McCullum’s approach suggests that he may have other priorities to the ones England cricket fans would hope to see. Indeed his words after the third Ashes Test defeat this week are shall we say, a little surprising. If one takes the analogy of football managers going through a poor set of results (a frequent occurrence) they will express regret to fans, provide explanations and suggests ways they hope to get improvements. Not it seems for McCullum

“It’s a pretty good gig. It’s good fun,” said McCullum. “You travel the world with the lads and try to play some exciting cricket and try to achieve some things

There are wider issues.

A piece in the Cricketer argues that when Rob Key and McCullum took charge of English and Welsh cricket in 2022 they were under pressure to create a more user friendly environment for players, with the threat that some might go to franchises.

This the Cricketer piece argues has led to less emphasis on training and fitness regimes with over time the results we can see. No doubt this view will be disputed.

But the wider point about franchise cricket, the Hundred domestically as seen the County game- the bedrock for Test players- moved to the start and the end of the season. However (see above) there clearly are current England players who at least should be seriously considered for the Test team but aren’t because they don’t fit the Bazball ethos.

Bazball now has the air of a management consultancy that suggests ways to improve which work for a bit until it becomes clear that underlying issues have not really been addressed. At that point the consultants normally move on to their next project