Former England fast bowler and Ashes winner Steve Harmison has strongly criticized the current England Tests, the head coach has said. Brendon McCullum is set to retire following Ben Stokes’ announcement of international retirement for the third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge.Harmison, who played 63 Tests and took 226 wickets for England, said he was never satisfied with the aggressive “Bazball” style McCullum introduced. Although the method initially brought success, Harmison believes that recent events in England, including the defeat of the Ashes and inconsistent test results, show that the method no longer works.Harmison said that Stokes and McCullum were the package that needed to rebuild Test cricket in England, and with Stokes gone, McCullum must follow.“McCullum should go with him. And that’s it. If we go through the discussion, McCullum should go with him. I have a lot of respect for Brendon McCullum as a person, but this is Bazball, not Test cricket. That’s amateur,” Harmison told Talksport Cricket.He also questioned how great batsman Joe Root could see England’s recent struggles.“I would like to know what Joe Root thinks about this, going out to fight. I really want to know what Joe Root thinks about this whole period of two weeks ago. But I think with Ben Stokes going now, the influence of Brendon McCullum on this team now, I’m not sure it’s good for English cricket, especially less in the Test Match Area that they added months of Ashe2s.
Ben Stokes explains decision to retire
Stokes shocked the cricket world by announcing his retirement from international cricket on the fourth day of the third Test. Explaining his decision, he admitted that mental and physical exhaustion helped a lot.“It might sound selfish, but this idea is the best thing for me at the moment,” Stokes told Sky Sports.“I believe that it is the best thing for this team going forward, but I also believe that it is something that will help me to continue to love the game that has given me so much.”“The test of the Lord, for me, was something that brought back a negative feeling about where I was in my career. I worked hard since I left home. [from Australia] to fix things, or that’s what I thought I was doing. I put a lot of time and energy into doing this, and I just burned myself out,” he added.
