‘Quite a bit of thought goes into it’, Brendon McCullum opens up about ‘Bazball’

England head coach Brendon McCullum has labelled 'Bazball' as an oversimplified term for his approach to the game. 

However, McCullum and his aggressive approach to Test cricket has yielded results in his first four Test matches, where England thrashed New Zealand 3-0 in their first Test series of the summer. Then they beat India at Edgbaston in the rescheduled fifth Test match despite being out of the game for most of the first three days of the Test match.

"I saw those (bazball comments) flick up on one of the feeds somewhere," McCullum told Adam Gilchrist on the SEN WA Breakfast show. 

"It's quite right, it is going to be a big challenge when we take on Australia. It's going to challenge our method and it's going to challenge what we're capable of achieving and that's pretty exciting I reckon," he said.

"Isn't that what the game's all about? It is to sort of reinvigorate yourself and then be confronted against the very best. I do believe that both New Zealand and India are two very, very good cricket sides as well," further added McCullum.

Meanwhile, former Australian captain Steve Smith has jokingly said that he is ready to see how far England's approach can go. McCullum has reacted to the comments from the Aussie batter and maintained that the Three Lions will try to keep up an aggressive approach from now on.

"Australia is a different kind of challenge because of the history of the Ashes and the rivalry which exists there," the veteran again stated.

Brendon McCullum also said he does not like the name 'Bazball' because it has shifted the focus away from the intricacies of England's approach. He added that it was way more complicated than it looked and was about choosing the right moment to decide when to attack the opposition bowler and when to defend.

"That's why I don't really like that silly term that people are throwing out there because there's actually quite a bit of thought that goes into how the guys manufacture their performances and when they put pressure on bowlers and which bowlers they put pressure on. There are also times where they've absorbed pressure beautifully as well," he signed off.