Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have utterly revolutionised the England Test team over the last year, turning them from a side wracked by fear and uncertainty into one brimming with confidence and joy.
In their own words, through the ECB’s digital team, the coach and the players look back and explain exactly how Bazball stuck and has turned them into genuine world beaters.
Across a month in April-May 2022, Joe Root resigns and Stokes and McCullum take over.
Joe Root: “I was knackered by the end of it, physically and mentally. I couldn’t give it what it required and I’m so glad for a number of reasons that I stepped down. It was the perfect opportunity for this team to have a complete fresh start.
Ben Stokes : “It is not something I ever aspired to be to be brutally honest. But I felt right to say that ‘right, the job is there and to let you know that it is something I’d like to have a crack at doing.’”
Brendon McCullum: “I enjoyed franchise cricket and I enjoyed all the opportunities that came with it, but to me Test cricket was always the pinnacle. It’s hard. It is the ultimate test. It takes you to a space where you will do anything you possibly can, even if you’re not fit, even if you’re struggling for runs, to get out there and have an opportunity.”
JR: “Ben is a great man. One of the most loyal blokes you will ever meet. “I leant on him a huge amount as captain and I think it is a great opportunity now for me to try to payback what he gave to me for so many years.”
BS: “People say that you need a different mindset from captain to coach but I felt I needed someone to help me drive forward with what I wanted to do and not hold me back from that.
BM: “Stokesy and myself are aligned, try and free guys up as much as possible from the burden that comes with playing international sport and the fear of failure. Sport is meant to be fun and entertaining. That is what our ultimate job is.”
England beat New Zealand in their first Test, chasing down 277, then they are set 299 at Trent Bridge in the 2nd
BM: “I remember the skipper walked in and he said ‘Baz, now is the time we need you to nail the message’ so it stemmed from Stokesy and I was just the mouthpiece at the time able to reinforce that.
“From the start to that point we had been talking about this and that moment was lending itself to the question ‘How serious are you about this? Are you going to s*** the bed and go back to normal or are you actually true to your word?’
BS: “The fact that we went out and decided that we were going to chase this down and were willing to lose it showed the world what we were about. This is how England is going to be playing cricket now.”
BM: “The whole team went, ‘ok, this is what we’re doing.’ We could have lost that game but it wouldn’t have mattered because at least we took that attitude to it. Anyone who watched that game would have walked away entertained.
“For some people, their ledger is runs, wickets, wins, losses. The skipper and mine is not that. It is heart, soul, commitment.
“That is important because it is one thing having good cricketers, but it is another thing having good human beings and guys who are invested in what you are trying to achieve.”
James Anderson: “There was definitely a shift in mindset. In 2021 we were fairly low on confidence. We hadn’t won a lot of games and it didn’t feel like it was fun to play cricket and that showed in how the team played. We want people to enjoy Test cricket and want to play Test cricket in the future.”
Stuart Broad: “I’ve played in a lot of environments and cultures and many of them have been very successful and there is huge structure to that, but I feel in this environment the structure has been taken away deliberately.”
JR: “Everything we do is about entertaining, having fun and creating memories. It is the most fun I’ve had in an England shirt. We are seeing it bring the best out of the whole squad really and you are seeing the best version of everyone.”
England face South Africa up next and they lose the first Test by an innings and 12 runs. But a win in the next game seals the Bazball philosophy.
BS: “You need to risk losing the game to try forcing a result, but it is not that we don’t care when we lose. We want to win. And when you lose it hurts just as much as it always does.
BM: “If at the moment you get beaten by someone you throw that mantra out the window then you’re just kidding yourself. You’ve got no chance.
“To be constrained and suffocated by the fear of failure to me makes no sense. You understand the risk when you start playing sport that there is going to be a winner and a loser.
“If someone is good enough to stand up to you and look you in the eye and beat you then you put your hand up and say fair play.”
“You want to keep reminding them that you should do what makes you happy and with your talent good things will happen to you along the way. I’d much rather take that approach than the opposite.”
