Nick Hoult - Bazball era comes to a close | Cricket journalist and Author
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How did Nick Hoult describe the immediate fallout after Brendon McCullum left the England Test coach role?
In its heady days, Nick Holt was the co-author of Bazball, the inside story of a test cricket revolution. But if you have followed his writing as the chief cricket correspondent of The Telegraph, he has been unyielding in his criticisms of what transpired in the latter days of Brendan McCollum's reign as the coach of the England test team. He's the perfect man to talk to as it all comes to a close. Nick, welcome back to SEN. Thanks for having me. How has the dust settled over the past few hours on the end of the Baz Ball era?
Well, we spoke to Baz today, actually, at Edge Baston, press conference with him, which he was pretty honest. You know, he said that he paid the price for results, said sorry for not winning the big series, admitted that he wanted to carry on and that he got a tap on the shoulder from the ECB. And now the hunt starts for the next coach.
Yeah.
A lot of talk about Andy Flower coming back, a man who won the Ashes in Australia, obviously. And there aren't that many candidates, really. They're sort of struggling at the moment to put a shortlist together, I think. And they're talking very much about possibly letting the new coach coach in the IPL as well. So that's a departure for England. They're used to having total control over their coaches. So, yeah, there's quite a lot up in the air.
What's the public reaction been like, Nick? How have you been able to gauge that?
It certainly wasn't an unpopular decision. I think once Stokes was gone, I think, I mean, you know, a lot of people, me included, would say that they should have done this after Australia. That was the right decision at the time. For some reason, they wanted to keep going. They rolled the dice again. but of course they were just under so much pressure that any slight slip up and it was all going to be uh it was all they're all going to come under scrutiny again um i think the manner of the defeat in nottingham uh trent bridge where they sort of threw away a test match it was they were very much outsiders really to ever chase down such a big total in the fourth innings but they never really gave themselves a chance you know it was a kind of
the last gasps of, of Baz ball. And I think, um, I think then it felt right. This has to change now.
How messy would you say it's all been since the end of the ashes tour and really the immediate aftermath all the way through to the past couple of days?
Well, I think the last sort of six months, the last eight months have been a message I've known, really. And, you know, that includes the kind of Peterson flower stuff that went on a decade ago after a similar defeat in Australia.
Yeah.
It felt this time that it was after the sort of Stokes story, the recent Stokes story, the Rex Rooms in Chelsea, there was a few days there where it felt as if it was out of control, really. You didn't really know what was going to happen next, who was going to be sacked next or who was going to resign or retire. So, yeah, it's been as messy as it could be, really.
What did McCullum say at his press conference and how did Hoult summarise his comments?
And it's just a continuation, really, of the end of Australia and the Harry Brooks story coming out. discipline being a problem and not being addressed.
What conclusions have you drawn then around the way that ECB has handled things?
I think, again, I'll just go back to why did they drag it out for another six months? Why didn't they just make this decision at the end of Australia when it was so obvious it wasn't working? And then even after that, the fact that Stokes clearly wasn't happy really with the way the team were playing under McCullum. That relationship really was over. I couldn't really see the point in trying to extend it and trying to start again. And it's always a lot harder to find a new captain and certainly a lot harder to find an all-rounder than it is to find a new coach. So it's... The dithering, really, over the Rex Room stuff, the kind of how it was dragged out for nearly 10 days or so, the public statements about when they didn't back Stokes, McCullum's bizarre press conference when he talked about his concerns about Stokes' mental state, all of this stuff.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
How did Nick Hoult describe the immediate fallout after Brendon McCullum left the England Test coach role?
0:00–3:13
2
What did McCullum say at his press conference and how did Hoult summarise his comments?
3:13–7:58
3
How did the public and media react to the end of the Bazball era and Trent Bridge defeat?
7:58–14:25
4
What mistakes and disciplinary issues did Hoult say exposed weaknesses at the ECB?
14:25–18:13
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Whateley
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