Former Australian pacer Glenn McGrath heaped praises on England’s new approach to Test cricket, appreciating the fearless aspect the team has brought under skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum.
Last month, England defeated New Zealand 3-0 before beating India in the one-off Test chasing 378 in the fourth innings.
Speaking on Monday at the MRF Pace Foundation where he is Director of Coaching, McGrath said, “They have come out and said they want to be aggressive. In that fourth innings, even if they lose wickets and the pressure builds, their attitude is ‘let us not worry about it.’ They want to go out and play a positive brand of cricket. If you can get a team to play without fear, it is amazing what you can achieve.”
“T20 has shown batters what they can achieve and they are now playing Test cricket without fear. Bowlers need to find a way to combat that and have to figure out the right plans,” he added.
It has been ten years since McGrath took over the reins from Dennis Lillee at the Pace Foundation. On his stint so far, McGrath said, “our goal was to continue what Dennis had built and not to reinvent anything. My strength is the mental side of the game, the preparations, the routines and the way you go about taking wickets. To see 29 of our boys who have been through us play in the IPL, was good. Prasidh Krishna and Avesh Khan have gone on to represent India in the shorter formats and that is what it is all about.”
McGrath, who was a key member of the dominant Australian team that won three consecutive World Cups (50 overs) felt that there needs to be some changes done to keep one-day cricket relevant. Recently Ben Stokes retired from ODIs and players like R. Ashwin have also said they feared for the format’s relevance.
“I am a traditionalist so I would like to preserve Test cricket. I would like to think the format is relevant but they have to keep making it exciting, a good product that broadcasters want to show. They have a few challenges,” said the Australian great.
