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“This one’s going to hurt”: McCullum reacts to First Test loss
Nicholas Quinlan • November 23rd, 2025 6:16 am
England coach Brendon McCullum has reacted to his side’s eight-wicket loss against Australia in the First Ashes Test at Perth Stadium on Saturday, declaring that they will not back down from their 'BazBall' approach.
The loss for England came in a staggeringly short amount of time, with the game being finished in the space of two days, which is the first time that has happened in The Ashes since 1921.
And considering the position that the visitors were in to begin Day 2, the result is disappointing from their perspective.
At the start of play, England had Australia 9/123 after an incredible third session, which saw England’s bowling attack rattle the Australian batsmen with their pace and captain Ben Stokes with a 5fa.
Then, having bowled the hosts out for 132, they had a lead of 40 runs, which put them in the box seat to claim their first Test win Down Under in 14 years.
But after a solid start from England, which saw them have a 105-run lead with nine wickets in hand, it would all go downhill from.
In the space of 18.2 overs, they lost all their wickets with some questionable shots/decisions in the context of the match, having only added 99 runs to their total, leaving Australia an achievable target of 205.
While it would mean Australia needed to make the most runs in a single innings in the fourth and final innings of the game, they did so within a session, thanks to an incredible Travis Head knock of 123 runs from only 83 balls.
Speaking on the UK’s host broadcaster TNT Sports after the match, the Kiwi says that while this result will hurt, he is confident that the team side won’t be too affected by it and will recover for the Second Test in Brisbane.
"We've been trying to insulate against reacting to things too much for a little while," he explained.
"We know that this one's going to hurt, and it's going to hurt not just us, but all the English people that follow this cricket team as well.
"There'll be a lot of a lot of chatter. For us, it's a matter of making sure that we don't allow our confidence and our camaraderie to dip too low. We know that at our best, we're a very good cricket team. We have now got an extended amount of time off over the next 10 to 12 days to make sure that when we get to Brisbane, we bounce back.
"One of my big beliefs is you got to build that unity, that cohesion, the connectivity and that camaraderie within a team for when you are under the biggest pressure, and the brightest lights, and things haven't worked out accordingly.
"To me, there is no other way other than to stay together, and keep backing one another, and keep heading towards the target.
"This is a marathon, not a sprint. We've had a very bad day today, but we've done it before. That's our blueprint. We're married to that, and we won't back down from that over the next four Tests."
Australia now takes a 1-nil lead against England with four matches left to play.
The next Test match will be a Day/Night one at the Gabba, which England have failed to beat Australia in since they first played one back in 2017/18 at the Adelaide Oval.
That begins on December 4 with SEN having LIVE coverage of every bowl bowled.
