England pick ‘Bazball’ brains before Australia Test

Before Saturday’s opening autumn test against Australia at Allianz Stadium, England’s coaching staff turned to their cricket counterparts for inspiration.

Before the Wallabies’ game against England at Twickenham, Steve Borthwick and his number two, Richard Wigglesworth, met with England’s Brendon McCullum and his staff in Manchester.

Since taking over England in 2022, New Zealander McCullum has instilled a fearless style of cricket under the name “Bazball” and is gearing up to face their bitter rivals in the Ashes series starting on November 21.

The rugby coaching staff was interested in McCullum’s mental approach, according to former England scrum-half Wigglesworth.

I was really interested when I inquired about Brendon’s impact on English cricket. Then we got into the technicalities of coaching someone one-on-one, how that would look, and how that would compare to his assistant position.

We sat for a while, and we learned a lot from it. They have a point, I believe.

This autumn, England will face Fiji, New Zealand, and Argentina in addition to Australia.

The cricket team will also play five Test matches as they attempt to reclaim the Ashes for the first time since winning in Australia ten years ago.

Wigglesworth, who was a member of the British and Irish Lions team as they recorded a 2-1 series win over the Wallabies in the summer, predicted that “they’ll go out and give it a great dig – as English teams who are playing against Australia want to do.”

It’s a fierce conflict with Australia, they say. Because there is something there, both teams really enjoy playing against one another. Bring on Saturday

Australia, who are ranked seventh in the world, are the favorites to defeat England.