Brendon McCullum has warned his embattled England team that a 2-0 deficit can become an Ashes whitewash “real quick” if they are unable to remain calm in the face of adversity in Australia.
England have lost the first two Tests by the crushing margin of eight wickets, and have spent the last week licking their wounds in Noosa ahead of Wednesday’s third Test. This continues a dreadful recent record in Australia, where they have not won a Test since January 2011, and have lost the last three series 4-0, 4-0 and 5-0.
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McCullum suggested they would keep faith with their misfiring top seven – three of whom are yet to even reach 50 in the series – and vowed they would not panic as they sought to prevent their tour heading the same way as the last three.
“We know we haven’t been at our best,” he said. “You have to admit that. You can’t walk away and start pointing fingers elsewhere. How do you remain tight as a group, and what do you need to do to be successful in the conditions and situation you are coming up against, then get out there and have another go. You do that, and you give yourself a chance. If you don’t, 2-0 can become 5-0 real quick, and that hasn’t worked for anyone.
“There are not many teams that have come down here and won, particularly teams who have been behind the eight ball and gone on to win. There’s numerous reasons for that. Our team will try to come down here and stay level, honest with ourselves, put the work in, then go out there and have another go.”
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While the top seven is expected to remain the same, with No 3 Ollie Pope entering the last-chance saloon, changes to the bowling attack remain on the table. Josh Tongue is in line to come in for either Gus Atkinson or Brydon Carse, while England have a tough decision to make over their spinner. Will Jacks chipped in with contributions in Brisbane, but England have invested heavily in Shoaib Bashir. On a pitch expected to be flat and the weathermen forecasting a scorcher, England must decide who is their most dangerous spinner.
Ollie Pope is set to retain his place at No 3 despite calls for him to be dropped – Shutterstock/Dave Hunt
“I wouldn’t have thought so,” McCullum said of changes to the batting order. “We’ve had a top seven now for a period of time and we’ve been reasonably successful with it. These conditions should suit the style of batters that we’ve got as well. We know we haven’t got enough runs so far in this series. We’ve been in positions where we could have and made some mistakes, and that can happen at times.
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“But for us to go on and win this series, it’s not about throwing out what has been successful for us over the last few years. It’s about having more conviction. It’s about making sure we have our plans and our disciplines around it just screwed down a touch more. Making sure when we walk out there we have utter belief in what we are capable of achieving. Knee-jerk reactions and chopping and changing settled batting line-ups is not really our way.”
Tongue appears likeliest to come in for Atkinson, with Carse also under pressure. Of Tongue, McCullum said: “Everyone knows what he brings; he brings high pace, he hits the wicket hard from a fuller length, he can swing the ball and reverse swing the ball. He’s a wicket-taker. If that’s what we deem is going to be most successful on that pitch then he’ll get a run, and we’ll work out where that fits.”
Fast bowler Josh Tongue is in line to make his Ashes debut in Adelaide – PA/Robbie Stephenson
That McCullum was addressing the media in the build-up to a Test is unusual, and is a window into England’s struggles on this tour. Usually, he only speaks in the immediate aftermath of a defeat but with the series on the line, jobs are too.
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“I certainly don’t coach to protect the job,” he added. “I coach to get the best out of people and that’s the same with the skipper. We both go about that in our same way with the same level of conviction and that won’t be changing this week just because the prize is at its highest.
“I firmly believe that if we play our best cricket, we are a massive chance in this Test match. If we do that, then the narrative changes and the series momentum changes.
“We knew when we came here that we had to win three Tests to win the series. The fact that we’re two-nil down means we’ve made it harder on ourselves, but it doesn’t stop the belief that you have within the dressing room. I don’t think we’ve been anywhere near our best so far in these last two tests and whilst the margins look huge in terms of the scoreboard, I think we’ve certainly had our moments in those first two Tests, where we could have been a lot better and we may have been able to put ourselves in a stronger winning position.”
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