England’s coach, Brendon McCullum, has insisted that he has no regrets about the first test of the Ashes, which ended in a dramatic two-wicket win for Australia at Edgbaston. After England was caught by sucker punches from Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon, McCullum said that England would keep on swinging in round two of the Ashes, even if the new world champions remain cagey when defending their 1-0 lead at Lord’s next week. He likened the match to a heavy-weight boxing match, stating that not everyone has to fight the same.
According to the New Zealander, the way England made all the running at Edgbaston has strengthened the coach’s resolve in the power of Bazball. If anything, he believes that the coach’s resolve is not shaken by the narrow, nail-biting first test defeat and that they will go to Lord’s with a lot of confidence.
McCullum defended wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow, who was involved in several missed opportunities. Despite Bairstow’s four costly missed chances and Moeen Ali’s serious blister and a bad cut on the spinning finger of his right hand caused by the workload in his first red-ball game for two years, McCullum insisted that they had both played well. In fact, he went as far as saying that Bairstow kept really well throughout and that Moeen did a great job overall.
In summary, the coach backed England’s controversial first-day declaration, would pick Moeen Ali for the second Test as long as he is fit, and insisted that Jonny Bairstow had a good game behind the stumps. McCullum said that he wants England to keep getting up and throwing punches as a team and that he is really proud of the way the guys played.
