England great slams Baz Ball approach

Brendon McCullum’s England have been reprimanded by the cricketing world after a Day Three of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s that saw them bowled out 91 runs short of Australia’s first innings total.

“England clearly like losing,” former England captain Michael Vaughan said on the BBC - referring to Harry Brooks’ questionable shot resulting in his dismissal from a Mitchell Stark short ball.

Vaughan did not reserve his criticism for Brooks alone - Johnny Bairstow’s arrival at the crease and subsequent departure after spooning a simple catch to Pat Cummins off Josh Hazelwood had the England great incensed.

“This is stupid cricket from England. I fear they have forgotten the art of soaking up periods of the game that aren’t easy,” he wrote.

“Test cricket is a test and in that test sometimes you have to soak up pressure. They have gifted wickets to Australia, who are without their off spinner.”

McCullum’s tenure as England coach has been characterised by an aggressive approach - while the team had won 11 out of their last 13 tests, few had taken issue with the mindset.

Day three’s performance, however, appears to have opened a few cracks in public opinion.

“Love how England have played in the last 12 months. But seriously, this is farcical batting,” tweeted BBC reporter Henry Moeran.

Some have diagnosed a Bazball headache with the England side as giving Australia opportunity to work themsevles back into the match.

“Ben Duckett said something last night that alarmed me,” Vaughan said. “He said ‘if we hadn’t taken it on, Australia will feel they’ve won the battle’. What utter nonsense! It’s Test match cricket.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission