Former Australian bowler Glenn McGrath has criticized England for playing very casual cricket against Australia in the Ashes 2023. He sarcastically termed it ‘CazBall’ instead of ‘Bazball’, which is related to Brendon McCullum’s aggressive approach, who is currently the head coach of England. The English side is currently trailing by 0-2 after losing the first two matches of the Ashes series.
McGrath wrote a column
McGrath said that firstly, he was in two minds about Jonny Bairstow’s controversial dismissal, which divided World cricket into two sides, including England’s skipper Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, who called the wicket against the spirit of the game. He wrote a column for the BBC and stated, “Jonny Bairstow’s dismissal was not my favourite, I’ve been thinking about it a lot and reading all the reactions, and that has got me confused. Firstly, I thought that Cummins should have withdrawn the appeal, but thinking about it, I deeply feel that it was the right decision by the Australian captain. This is indicative of something deeper in England’s mind.
England has been too casual
The 53-year-old also stated that he is a fan of Bazball, and the concept of backing yourself, playing fearlessly, and putting pressure on the opposition is something he totally agrees with’. But he thinks that Bairstow’s dismissal is emblematic of what we have seen from England so far in the series. McGrath said it has been a cazball, England has been too casual in this series since the first test at Lords. After the rain delay, Australia’s batsmen were trying their best to get out there, and Umpires were on the ground, but despite the conditions being in their favour, most of the England players, including the skipper, were lying in the balcony.
During the first test, England declared on the very first day, which was very casual. In the second test, Bairstow was dismissed at a crucial stage of the match after dodging a bouncer and believing that the ball was dead, but wicketkeeper Alex Carey played with the rules and hit the stumps, after which the decision was given in Australia’s favour as per rules. Bairtstow walked out of the crease like he was owning the games, it was the pinnacle of everything seen from this current England team, McGrath concluded.
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