Coach sacked? Who England will feed to the wolves when horror Ashes tour comes to an end
The essence of Bazball has been constant motion — but now it’s hit an immovable object, the legs are left spinning above a chasm below. Robert Craddock unpacks how far Brendon McCullum and England have to fall.
When Mitchell Johnson ripped England to shreds 12 years ago the shockwaves flowed from head office to the dressing room and cost more than 20 people their jobs.
Win the Ashes and all moves are justified. Lose badly and you had better cover your backside because the blowtorches blaze from all directions.
As brave as England were at the batting crease on Sunday to go down by just 83 runs, it was too little, too late against a buoyant side fielding like demons.
It extended England’s recent record in Australia to 16 losses and two draws from their last 18 Tests. For all the huffing and puffing about Bazball, the dial has not moved a square centimetre.
To lose the Ashes in 11 days is a disaster, especially, as England quick Steve Harmison said “plenty of English teams who come to Australia have no chance … this one did.’’
When you leave yourself a world record to chase for victory you know you are praying for a miracle that history tells you won’t happen.
“Cyclone Mitch’’ Johnson’s 37 wickets at 13.97 in Australia’s 5-0 shellacking of England in the 2013-14 summer plunged England into crisis and players, coaches and backroom staff were all marched out the door.
It was an over-reaction but that’s the Ashes. Standby for more hostility this summer with England outpointed by an outstanding Australian team effort.
If England, who have just lost the Ashes and trail 3-0, slip to 5-0, the men at the top – team managing director Robert Key and coach Brendon McCullum – are likely to be the first to go.
The only man with a “safe’’ sign above his head is skipper Ben Stokes because he is a fighter and there is no-one else.
McCullum and Key were seen as saviours of English cricket when they turned around a team who had won one of their last 17 Tests into one which played dynamic cricket and, before this tour, had won 22 of their 37 Tests since McCullum’s appointment.
The key stat, however, was that they improved against weaker nations but not Australia or India.
Everything England achieved during the Bazball revolution was in the context of preparing the team for this series. And neither the bowlers or batsman have fired. They even scored slower than Australia.
If McCullum goes it might cost England a potential payout of around $1 million because he is contracted for the next two years but these things happen.
The sad thing for England is that had the series been alive they would have fancied their chances of another Test win on Boxing Day where there will be no Nathan Lyon and the Australian pace attack, outstanding though they have been, are tiring.
Suddenly, magnificent Australia has a whiff of vulnerability about them but it doesn’t matter. The Ashes are gone.
This was one of the great Australian team efforts with Mitchell Starc sublime and the likes of Travis Head and Alex Carey playing some of the innings of their lives.
The selectors, from the promotion of Head to opener in Perth to the recall of Michael Neser in Brisbane and the perfectly timed recall of Pat Cummins in Adelaide, had a memorable month.
Head was planning a 48-hour celebration in Adelaide while England contemplated what might have been.
That’s the Ashes for you, the contest where the highs put you on a fluffy cloud and the lows drag you to the deepest darkest places of your career.
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Originally published as Coach sacked? Who England will feed to the wolves when horror Ashes tour comes to an end
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