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“Amazing for England”: Why Broad loves ‘Bazball’
SEN • November 13th, 2025 11:37 am
Stuart Broad has loved what England men’s coach Brendon McCullum has brought to English cricket.
The New Zealand great took over as coach in May 2022, shortly after England lost 4-0 to Australia in the last Ashes series down under.
Having taken over during a down period of English cricket, McCullum has breathed new life into the sport in the British Isles, with his ‘BazBall’ methods giving the players an attacking license and freedom to play without fear of failure.
SEN Cricket’s Broad, who played under McCullum in the last year of his international career, hailed the coach for his transformation of English cricket ahead of the upcoming 2025/26 Ashes series in Australia.
“Brendon's been amazing for English cricket,” Broad said on SEN Whateley.
“He came over not needing the job. He came over very sort of free-spirited and just wanted to grow the game of Test match cricket.
“Although England were a bit of a sleeping giant. I think it's just a mindset that Baz brings to the change room of taking the game on, he uses this saying of, ‘Running towards the danger, moving the game forward’.
“I've heard different Aussie cricketers say, ‘We were doing this 20 years ago’, 100 per cent they were, it’s not a new philosophy.
“It's just freeing the players up, who are under a huge amount of scrutiny and pressure, to get rid of the fear of failure by taking the positive option.
“It's not a new creation, it's just quite new for an English cricket team to have this mindset and not fear getting out. It was incredibly refreshing to play.
“It’s also the perfect timing of McCullum as a coach coming in and Ben Stokes coming in as a captain.”
One criticism of ‘BazBall’ has been that their attacking style of batting only works well on flat pitches, with decks in England clearly changing to favour that style of cricket in the last three years.
While Aussie bowler Mitchell Starc was one calling for spicy pitches to try and not play in the hands of the English, Broad doesn’t see it that simply.
“I mean, I'm not surprised Mitch Starc is calling for those sorts of pitches, every bowler in the world hopes for those pitches, if I'm brutally honest,” Broad said.
“Australia have had a bowling captain for a couple of years now with Pat Cummins, so the pitches have quite naturally become a bit more bowler-friendly.
“I've seen Steve Smith talk about that a little bit with a sense of frustration in his voice. He played the majority of his career on flat pitches where their bowlers were able to out-bowl other bowlers.
“When the pitches have been a bit spicier, it can bring opposition teams into the game a little bit more.
“The good thing about Brendon McCullum's batting unit is they are adaptable, it's not just one player, they don't just charge down the pitch and try and slog it out of the ground.
“They don't mind a bit of movement in the surface, because then it brings a bit of predictability to the bowlers. If they are just bowling good length in a good area, they know where it’s going to be, and that’s where they can hit it where they want.”
In fact, Broad even believes that Australia should think about producing flatter pitches that break up and turn on Day 4 and 5 to drive home one of their biggest advantages in having Nathan Lyon in their line-up.
“What England don't want with the lack of a quality spinner, I'd say, are pitches that are really flat and begin to turn Day 4 and 5,” Broad said.
“That’s where Lyon will clean up because he's one of the world's best, he’s got 550 Test poles and that’s where England are lacking.
“England won't want really flat pitches that spin, and I don't think it looks like Australia will produce them.
“Australia have got bowlers that get wickets on any surface – Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins and Boland, they’ve got phenomenal records because they're wicket takers, even on flat pitches, then that brings the quality of Nathan Lyon in.
“So, it's a really, really difficult decision for Cricket Australia and whoever to make. But if I were Australia, I'd probably create flatter pitches and back my bowlers to get more out of them than the English.”
Broad will be a key piece of the SEN Cricket commentary team across the upcoming Ashes campaign.
With the first Test in Perth beginning on November 21, listen to every ball live on SEN – your home of cricket.
