England’s new red-ball head coach Brendon McCullum insisted he had nothing on captain Ben Stokes’ aggression when he oversaw a 3-0 whitewash of his native New Zealand during his first series in charge.
McCullum was known for a dynamic approach, when the New Zealand captain and attacking mindset now called the ‘baz ball’ in honor of his nickname was again evidenced during the third Test at Headingley on Monday.
England washed out the final morning session after rain, taking only 15.2 overs to make the remaining 113 runs needed to reach a target of 296 for a seven-wicket victory, followed by five wickets over the Test world champions. The victory happened. Lord’s and Trent Bridge.
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Jonny Bairstow smashed an unbeaten 71 on Monday – England’s second-fastest Test half-century ever – and shared an unbroken 111-run partnership with former England captain Joe Root (86 not out).
Bairstow’s innings played a scintillating 162-run knock that revived England from a depth of 55-6 in their first innings.
All this was a far cry from the sneaky game that had often portrayed England’s performance during a win in the 17 Test matches before this series.
Root resigned as captain after team director Ashley Giles and coach Chris Silverwood were sacked after losing the Ashes series in Australia to that poor return.
However, McCullum insisted that he “didn’t do much” when England were whitewashing New Zealand.
– ‘Very special start’ –
“I’m aggressive but I think Ben has got me covered,” McCullum told the BBC.
“He’s really pushing the envelope and sending a strong message that that’s how the team will play.”
“Winning the series 3-0 against the best team in the world is a very special start,” Stokes said.
“When I took this position it was about more than the result – it was about changing the mindset of the kids towards Test cricket, having fun, enjoying representing our country. Then you will see the result automatically.
“To say we’ve done it so quickly is unbelievable.”
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, who missed the second Test with a bout of Covid-19, was left out for lack of runs from the top-order including with his bat.
But despite New Zealand missing as many matches in the 12 months since leading the Black Caps to victory India at the inauguration World In the final of the Test Championship due to a long-standing elbow injury, the 31-year-old star batsman did not think of standing up to the captaincy.
“I would definitely love to play for this group and be their leader,” he said. “It’s been an interesting and challenging time, but the hunger is still in me.”
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