'Got a top 7 brainwashed by McCullum': Ex-England pacer tears Bazball apart after Gabba Test loss
England have been on the receiving end since losing the second Ashes Test in Brisbane against Australia, who, despite missing two of their main four bowlers and three in the second game, with no Nathan Lyon as well, have just been too good and strong and are deservedly 2-0 ahead in the series.
Former England pacer Steve Harmison launched a seething attack on head coach Brendon McCullum and the current Test team's playing style, coined 'Bazball' because of the pace at which they play. To England's credit, it has worked at home and in places like New Zealand and Pakistan somewhat but Australia has been a different beast and it will be interesting to see how quickly Ben Stokes and Co realise this, given that the visitors are already 0-2 down and the Ashes series is slipping away slowly.
After a superb first day with the bat, which saw England put up 325 runs on the board, riding on a Joe Root special, the visitors let all the advantage slip. Australia posted 511 runs on the board in their first innings and took a 177-run lead and started dictating terms. Harmison slammed the England batting line-up, saying that despite so many failures, the top seven has remained the same and is not learning, while giving the example of Will Jacks, who last played a Test match three years ago and was still able to apply better than the others.
"What we've got, unfortunately, with Bazball, we've had a very insular group, a very whether you want to call them arrogant or egotistical or whatever, the same seven batters, who have made the same mistakes constantly. From that point of view, I am looking at someone like Will Jacks, who came in from the outside and he played smartly with his head and he played the situation," Harmison told talkSport.
"The problem I have got with Bazball is that we keep making the same mistakes. So the guy who came in from the outside, he's tried to play his natural game, played the risk situation the way he saw it and he thought it was. All of a sudden, he got himself to 40, playing the way which we wanted them to play yesterday or the day before.
"When it came to yesterday and the day before, we've got a top seven brainwashed by Brendon McCullum in a way that will never ever work consistently because these players never learn from their mistakes," Harmison added, while heaping praise on Jacks, who curbed his natural instincts, played in the line of the ball, left the ones he had to and played on its merit.
Jacks played out 92 balls as he and captain Stokes spent almost three hours in the middle on the fourth day, taking England into the lead before it all came apart once again. England could muster just a 64-run lead in the second innings, and Australia knocked it off in just 10 overs.