Coach Brendon McCullum does U-turn, ready to drink beer with Australian cricketers

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London. England Test head coach Brendon McCullum has had a change of heart on his statement that he would never share a beer with Australian players after the controversial dismissal of Jonny Bairstow in the 2023 Ashes series.

After Bairstow was run out by Australian wicket-keeper Alex Carey, McCullum told the BBC, “I can’t imagine we’ll be having a beer with him anytime soon. You’ve got to stick with your decisions.” Bairstow stepped out of the crease prematurely after avoiding a short-pitched delivery in the Lord’s Test.

Former New Zealand captain McCullum, who is the architect of England’s ‘baseball’ strategy, oversaw the team’s 2-2 draw with Australia in the 2023 series, along with skipper Ben Stokes, to emphasize their advantage in the fourth Test. Their efforts failed due to bad weather.

Following the end of the series, McCullum has now stated that he is ready to have a beer with the Australian team and claimed that his earlier statement of not sharing a drink with the Australian team had been “misconstrued”.

McCullum is now quoted in the media as saying, “Yeah, we’ll have beer.”

He said, “If we look back after that Test match (Lord’s), I don’t think what I said was misinterpreted.” “What I was saying was that I’ve made mistakes in the past, and sometimes you look back on certain decisions with regret and I raised my hand to say that. I guess that’s what I was challenging.” .. It’s murky territory around the spirit of cricket.”

It was a good series for England as the hosts came back from 0–2 down in the first two Tests to win the third and fifth matches to level the series.

The series was highly controversial due to several key incidents apart from Bairstow, with both the teams and their supporters engaged in a war of words throughout the series.

The England Test coach also said that the series will not affect his relationship with Australian captain Pat Cummins. “I have had the privilege of coaching Pat in the IPL. He is an absolute champion, and I consider him one of my teammates,” he added.

(IANS)

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