England Test head coach Brendon McCullum has made a U-turn on his stance of not drinking beer with the Australians that he had affirmed earlier during the Ashes 2023 series. Now that the series is concluded 2-2, Brendon McCullum was more than happy to share a few drinks with the Ashes counterparts.
The Ashes 2023 series finished on a high with the hosts leveling the series in the last Test at The Oval, with Stuart Broad providing one of the moments of the series by taking the last two Australian wickets in his last international game.
After the match, England skipper Ben Stokes tweeted and clarified that the contingent of both the teams had beers together at a night club. This perhaps also included Brendon McCullum, the England coach, who had after the Lord’s Test declared that he won’t be having any beers with the Aussies.
After the conclusion of the series, when asked about whether he will have beer with the Australians, Brendon McCullum laughed and replied: “Yeah, we’ll have a beer”
Earlier, after the second Test at Lord’s, in the aftermath of Alex Carey running out Jonny Bairstow (or stumping him out) and the whole Spirit of Cricket debate sparking up, McCullum had asserted that he won’t be friendly with the Aussies.
“I can’t imagine we’ll be having a beer with them any time soon,” McCullum told the BBC after the Bairstow incident at Lord’s. “You’ve got to live with the decisions you make.”
Brendon McCullum says Jonny Bairstow run-out drama will be remembered for long time
Brendon McCullum now responded to the above statement, saying that his comments were misinterpreted by the media and fans.
“If we look back to after that test match I don’t necessarily think what I said was construed in the right way,” he said.
“What I was saying was I’ve made mistakes in the past, and there’s times when you look back on some decisions with regret and I put my hand up to say that. I guess that’s what I was challenging. That’s the grey area around the spirit of cricket.”
Though McCullum insisted that the Jonny Bairstow run-out incident will still be remembered in the Ashes folklore.
“Ashes series have all these twists and turns and moments which people talk about and are able to remember them by, and that was certainly one of those.”
“I’ve had the pleasure of being able to coach Pat over in the IPL (in India). He’s an absolute champion fella, and I consider him one of my mates,” McCullum said.
