Brendon McCullum. (Photo Source: Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
Brendon McCullum, England’s red-ball head coach, is in the news, especially after he claimed that his relationship with the Australian side has been strained. The whole controversy unfolded when Jonny Bairstow was stumped by Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey on Day 5 of the second Test match. McCullum stated after the game that the Aussies have to live with it, but his team would have made a different play.
In the game, Carey’s underarm throw to dismiss the England wicketkeeper while he was out of the crease was not liked by many, as the right-hand batter assumed the ball to be dead, but contrary to his belief, he was given out. Eventually, the Ben Stokes-led England lost the second Test match by 43 runs and are trailing 0-2 in the series.
McCullum has expressed his sentiment after the loss and believes they still can make a comeback in the series. The 41-year-old is also facing backlash after his statement that he could not imagine having a beer with the Australian side. The former Kiwi star batter added that Pat Cummins-led Australia withdrawing the controversial appeal would have affected the result of the series.
Brendon McCullum thinks ‘Bairstow’ dismissal will bring the thrill in the rest of the series
“In the end, they made a play, they’ve got to live with that. We would have made a different play but that’s life. In time, we’ll see, but I get the feeling that it might have an effect on them,” McCullum was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
“I don’t know if it’s anger, but our unit is galvanised. There are times as a coach where you’ve got to reduce emotion because it’s going to bubble over and you can make poor decisions, but there are times when you allow emotion to go because it’s going to galvanise the unit,” he further added.
Surely the incident could fire up the remaining games, and the home side can become the first team since Don Bradman’s side (1936-37) to make a comeback after trailing 0-2, while the Aussies will be looking to win the third Test match to win the Ashes in England since 2001.
“From our point of view, we believe that we can still come back in this series, and that’s where our focus has got to be. What I will say is it’s a galvanised unit up there, and we saw the fight from the skipper, Broady [Stuart Broad] and the boys at the end there as well, which shows how much this means to the side,” stated the England head coach.
After all the verbal spat between both the teams, Ashes 2023 will be heading towards for third Test match of the five-game series at Leeds, starting on July 6; as predicted by McCullum, the controversial dismissal will give the spikey edge to the series.