Separated at Birth: McCullum and Lasso
Ted Lasso is a fictional football coach. Brendon McCullum is a real cricket coach. What do they have in common? Everything!
They are both friendly foreigners who came over to England to help a struggling side fulfil their potential; they both focus on team philosophy and trust that results will follow; and they both want their players to enjoy the game knowing that their talent will shine through. Most strikingly, even though they sound completely different (one is a softly spoken Kiwi, the other a loud Texan), their rhetoric and philosophy are almost identical: believe in your game.
Early into his tenure as AFC Richmond manager, Lasso spends a day with a reporter, culminating in one of his most famous quotes, which he repeats throughout the three series: ‘For me, success is not about the wins and losses, it is about helping these young fellas be the best versions of themselves, on and off the field.’ In a similar vein, in an interview with Sky Sports before the 2023 Ashes, McCullum said: ‘I want us to try get the best out of everyone that you [sic] encounter. Not just in terms of their performance but to get the best out of them, to try and enjoy the opportunity that they have and to hopefully grow as people and to build relationships.’ These quotes perfectly encapsulate their like-minded goals and ideas.
Since McCullum took charge in the summer of 2022, England have played an expansive and aggressive style of cricket, looking to overwhelm teams with rapid runs. However, this has not been exclusively rash shots and all-out-attack. McCullum, Ben Stokes and Rob Key (Managing Director of England Men’s Cricket) assessed the England squad and recognised that their strengths were in white ball cricket: they were the reigning ODI World Champions, while they had only won one game in seventeen with the red ball. A majority of the squad were excellent stroke makers and McCullum came in and freed up the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope, who have all seen a significant improvement in form since the change in management. They are now allowed to make mistakes and play the way they want to, the way that suits them best. Bairstow’s innings at Trent Bridge in 2022 being one of the most memorable; he scored 136 from 92 balls and kickstarted his summer of brilliance against New Zealand and South Africa.
In the 2023 Ashes, Crawley averaged 53, including one hundred and two fifties. Before McCullum took over, Crawley had only averaged over 33 in a Test series once, now he has done it in four out of six series. Another of Lasso’s most famous comments was ‘be a goldfish.’ This refers to how fish only have a ten second memory and how he wanted his players to forget their mistakes and keep believing in themselves. This would have been almost exactly how McCullum would have managed Crawley. Rather than focusing on his technique each week and trying to drill in defensive stability, McCullum built up Crawley’s confidence and allowed him to focus on scoring runs in his style, knowing that he would make mistakes and ‘nick off for nought playing a very extravagant shot’ (McCullum 2023) every so often. He continually backing Crawley, even when almost no one else did.
‘Whatever happens, happens out there but the real fun for us is the working with the guys, building those relationships, getting to know them as people, getting to know their wives and their kids and what their life is like and then working with them on their skills and then whatever happens out on the field … it’s almost secondary. There’ll be times where they succeed and there’s times which they’ll fail but it’s the other stuff where you see them grow as people and grow as cricketers and humans which is where the real fun is.’ (Brendon McCullum 01/06/2023)
‘Getting to work with you all these last three years has truly been one of the greatest experiences of my life. I’ve loved getting to know each and every single one of you; learn all about the men you were and getting a front row seat to see the men you all become’ (Ted Lasso Series 3, Episode 12 – aired on 31/05/2023)
Lastly, in the third series, Ted has a BBQ sauce-induced dream of “Total Football” (unaware it was pioneered by Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff in the 1970s and 80s) and introduces it to the team as their new tactic. A few episodes later, after their captain has been sent off, Ted’s assistant, Coach Beard, shouts, ‘We’re playing a man down. What do we do differently?’ and in unison the players reply, ‘Absolutely nothing!’
Although we have not heard this exact cry from McCullum and the team, he and Stokes have almost certainly continued to back their plan and told their players to keep attacking with bat and ball, even when on the backfoot. In the aforementioned Trent Bridge Test, England were 93-4 chasing 299 when Stokes strode to the crease to join Bairstow. Together they counter-attacked and put on 180 from the next twenty overs, an astonishing feat. Apparently Stokes berated Bairstow after ducking a short ball and told him to hook it into the stands, which Bairstow proceeded to do next ball. If the appointment of McCullum as head coach was the birth of “Baz Ball”, this was its coming of age.
Although this philosophy from McCullum and Stokes has not led to uninterrupted successes, or even an Ashes victory, it has returned an excitement to English Test cricket, which has been lacking for some years now and led to some of the most remarkable and exciting Test matches in recent history; and most importantly, in McCullum’s eyes, the players are enjoying the game!
