The Ashes 2025: Glenn McGrath senses 5-0 sweep, England’s Bazball dynasty to implode
In many ways, Bazball has just become cricket’s answer to Nick Kyrgios. By not confirming to conventional wisdom, England’s cricketers are hiding behind a shield of their own making.
Glenn McGrath senses England could be on the verge of another 5-0 whitewash and believes he has identified why the Bazball dynasty is about to implode.
England coach Brendon McCullum’s post-match claim that his team had “over-prepared” for the Gabba Test, combined with batting coach Marcus Trescothick’s admission that the team had not spoken about modifying its shot selection between Perth and Brisbane, has exposed the fundamental flaw in the Bazball philosophy, according to McGrath.
“I like the concept of Bazball but trying to get rid of pressure (by removing) negativity, and no accountability is what I don’t like,” McGrath told the BBC.
“I like the concept, but you’ve got to enjoy the pressure and that’s when you lift.
“(When) you’re accountable to yourself and to the team. You add that and that’s a perfect game.”
The sight of England’s top order throwing away their wickets on night three of the Gabba Test backed up the assertion McGrath is making.
Essentially the Bazball mentality has given the players an excuse or an out for reckless dismissals and that lack of accountability has removed the hard-edge required to dig in when backs are against the wall.
What has been proclaimed as a fearless way of playing cricket, is actually a style of play steeped in fear.
A fear that if you actually try and play the situation on its merits – and you lose – you are exposed as not being good enough.
However, Bazball offers a loophole for failure because if you go down swinging you can hide behind the façade that at least you failed ‘playing the Bazball way.’
“No discussions took place about driving on the up [after the Perth Test],” Trescothick said after day three in Brisbane.
“There’s no need to have a knee-jerk reaction from what was a tough pitch in Perth.”
Former Australian captain Michael Clarke warned before both the Perth and Brisbane Tests, that as much as he loved England’s intent to be aggressive, their plan would fail if they refused to apply that aggression within the parameters of the unique shot-selection required for fast and bouncy pitches.
England’s blind decision to continue driving on the up has proven Clarke’s point.
There are comparisons to be drawn with the way many feel Nick Kyrgios plays his tennis without accountability.
If Kyrgios actually knuckled down, got himself a coach and a trainer and got fully fit – and after all that failed to win a major tournament – he’d be forced to confront questions about whether he just wasn’t good enough.
But by approaching the game with a carefree attitude where it’s as much about the entertainment, attitude and bluster as anything else, Kyrgios is able to hide behind a shield that he is doing it his way and not conforming to the conventional wisdom of how to win.
McCullum and Ben Stokes tried to remove fear of failure from the DNA of its players so they could play with total freedom, but in doing so, the removal of any accountability for failing has destroyed England the moment the blowtorch of an Ashes series in Australia has been applied.
There is no question that Bazball, to this point, has been a success in the fact it has emboldened an aggressive way of playing cricket where England is always trying to win a Test match, rather than ever being caught trying not to lose.
But the lack of answerability to teammates or to the public has been its downfall.
McGrath told this masthead after the Gabba Test that England’s willingness to finally make players accountable in the third Test in Adelaide starting next week could determine whether the Ashes spirals completely out of control towards another whitewash.
The fast bowling great senses that perhaps the penny has finally dropped following Stokes’ loaded comments after Brisbane that his dressing room was no place for “weak men.”
“There is still an opportunity to get 5-0. I think it’s interesting to listen to the English after that. I think they’ve finally identified that they can’t just keep playing the way they want to play and everything’s going be fine,” McGrath said.
“So the next Test is going to be a big one, especially for them.
“We’ll probably have Pat Cummins coming back and Nathan Lyon coming back.
“If Australia come out and are dominant again and win that game 3-nil, that could quite easily be five nil.
“So it’s up to England to bounce back now.”
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Originally published as The Ashes 2025: Glenn McGrath senses 5-0 sweep, England’s Bazball dynasty to implode
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