Glenn McGrath has a new name for Bazball as Pat Cummins lands finishing blow

The former Aussie quick has hilariously ripped into England while Pat Cummins has landed the finishing blow in the Jonny Bairstow debate.

Ben Stokes is begging to move on after Glenn McGrath and Pat Cummins landed the finishing blows in the debate about Jonny Bairstow’s stumping.

McGrath, the legendary Aussie quick who has been commentating the series in England, hilariously poked fun at the Poms in a column for the BBC overnight Wednesday.

While admitting the dismissal was “not his favourite”, McGrath has settled on the side of the Aussies after “every single one of the former players I have spoken to, English or Australian, did not have a problem with it”.

“Even West Indies legend Brian Lara has said it was out,” McGrath wrote.

McGrath believes Bairstow’s dismissal encapsulates what’s cost England a 2-0 deficit heading into the Third Test on Thursday night – a failure to realise the battle they’re in and what’s on the line.

“Bairstow’s dismissal epitomises what we have seen from England in this series. It has been Casual Ball – CazBall if you will, not Bazball,” McGrath said.

Clever nicknames aside, McGrath cited England’s late arrival to the field on day one of the Second Test, the never-ending gibber in the media from players like Ollie Robinson and some of the Poms’ shot selection as signs they haven’t been completely switched on.

“Maybe there is accountability inside the dressing room but the noise coming out is ‘we give the batters freedom’ and ‘it’s up to them’,” he wrote.

“That is like running a race, finishing 27th and someone giving you a medal. This is Test cricket. It is the Ashes!”

Pat Cummins has landed the finishing blow in the Jonny Bairstow debate. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Cummins called the stumping, when Australian keeper Alex Carey threw down the stumps after Bairstow left his crease early, a “pretty common, non-event” that didn’t demand the fallout that has ensued and turned the blowtorch on the home team’s response.

“For what I think is a pretty common, non-event it does seem like everyone has a pretty strong opinion about it,” Cummins said at Headingley.

“I‘m a bit surprised about how big it’s been but that’s the Ashes, the littlest thing tends to be a moment where everyone likes to show their patriotism.

“I don‘t think a conversation about the spirit of cricket even comes into a dismissal like that. It was plain and simple a stumping.

“Everyone that has played cricket and knows cricket, you just see it as that, end of story. I don’t think there’s any discussion, it’s out.

“If the shoe was on the other foot, I wouldn‘t be looking at the opposition, I’d probably be looking at our own batter and would be thinking it’s pretty silly.”

England captain Ben Stokes says it’s time to move on. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Cummins was loathe to talk about England’s behaviour in the aftermath, which has included newspaper columns from veteran seamer Stuart Broad questioning the character of the Australians and local captain Stokes declaring he wouldn’t want to win a game “like that”.

But with a series-sealing win available to his team in Leeds, Cummins said the Australians were laser focused.

“I know what our team does, and that is we concentrate on ourselves,” he said.

“When we haven‘t been playing up to scratch, we look pretty deeply at what we are doing and try to make amends.

“We don‘t apportion blame to conditions or opposition or anything else going on.

“I’m really proud of how our boys have conducted themselves this tour, especially on that day five (at Lord’s).”

Stokes indicated he would have withdrawn the appeal had he been the fielding captain at the time, while England coach Brendon McCullum suggested the incident could galvanise his side as they look to become just the second team in Test history to win a series from 2-0 down.

But Stokes, speaking to reporters at Headingley, said: “I don’t think we can galvanise as a group any more than we are to be honest.

“There’s been obviously a lot of noise around the incident last week at Lord’s but, from me as a captain and from the England team, I think the best thing that everyone needs to do is just move on from it.”

— with NCA NewsWire, AFP