‘Catastrophic breakdown’ – Greg Chappell tears into Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes after poor show at Ashes

Former Australian captain Greg Chappell did not mince his words while commenting on England’s performance in the ongoing Ashes so far. The tourists were comprehensively defeated by eight wickets in both the Tests so far.

Chappell did not spare the players and namedropped head coach Brendon McCullum and skipper Ben Stokes as part of the problem for following a rigid style of playing despite being presented with completely different conditions in Australia than in England.

“The failure that has ensued across the first two Tests is a whole-of-system one, a catastrophic breakdown of both the game plan and its execution. While the players have been the immediate culprits, the off-field leaders – Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes – are equally responsible for not recognising the different challenges presented by Test cricket in Australia,” wrote Chappell in his column for The Sydney Morning Herald.

The 77-year-old called out ‘Bazball’ as an ‘often reckless approach’. He opined that the ‘Bazball’ is only suitable for batting-friendly pitches in England and venues with comparatively smaller boundary dimensions.

“In the context of English cricket’s game plan, the aggressive, often reckless approach dubbed ‘Bazball’ – the effect manifests as an overly positive spin on achievements and an unwillingness to accept that a method successful on flat English pitches and small grounds is fundamentally unsuited to the demanding conditions and quality opposition found in Australia,” he added.

Speaking of the series, England have been outplayed by the hosts by quite a distance. The series-opening clash in Perth ended in a couple of days’ time. The Stokes-led unit could not capitalise on the crucial first innings lead they acquired. As for the pink-ball contest, although the match stretched out to four days, England never looked to have an upper hand over Australia.

They have copped criticism from ex-English players too, some of whom have categorised them as playing brash and irresponsiblee. The third Test of the series is scheduled to commence at the Adelaide Oval from December 17.