“Bazball” cricket was not a “rigid” playing style, but to give “freedom” to the players to express themselves, and the “misconceptions” about the playing approach were “disrespectful” to them, said England head coach Brendon McCullum. Notably, McCullum took over as England’s Test team head coach in 2022, and he, along with captain Ben Stokes, adopted a fearless and aggressive brand of cricket approach, particularly with the bat, which is known as “Bazball”. But McCullum, who dislikes the term “Bazball”, said that he has frustrations around how they are perceived as a team as well.

“We never have that kind of mindset about ourselves in the sense that, we’re not rigid in how we go about things,” McCullum told the ‘For the Love of Cricket’ podcast, as reported by ‘BBC Sport’. “I think there’s a bit of a misconception about how we play, that we swing the bat as hard as we can, we try to take wickets and then we go for a round of golf and a few beers.”

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“I find it slightly disrespectful to all of you guys (the players) and all of the people in the set-up who work so hard and have such clear determination of wanting to succeed, to have that so simply categorised, almost. For us, it’s about trying to create an environment that allows you to handle the pressures of international cricket, to understand the size of that task but to not be restricted in your ability to play,” McCullum added.

“You want your talent to come out, I hate seeing talent stymied, so having a certain style or belief in how we want to play gives us the best chance of success. You can’t do that if you are bound by this tension and negativity. I felt like what you guys needed at that time, my skills were kind of suited to that (Test cricket) – giving guys confidence and encouragement to push the boundaries of their games,” he again said.

“I looked at where the white-ball side was at and I was thinking, that’s not really my skill, I’m about giving a team soul and purpose and freedom, and pushing them towards bravery on the field. So I felt the Test team was more aligned to that, at the time,” Brendon McCullum concluded.