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England head coach Brendon McCullum An unchanged batting line-up is set to form for this week’s crucial Ashes Test adelaideHe insisted that he would not be affected by questions about his future.
Trailing 2-0 with three games remaining, England They cannot afford another slip-up if they are to win the Ashes, but they are prepared to give their error-prone top seven another chance.
Ollie PopeWith an average of 18.71 and a top score of 46 in 14 innings against Australia, he looked most vulnerable to the challenge. jacob bethel But McCullum spoke strongly in favor of maintaining the status quo.
Pope duly took his place in the catching circle as England returned to practice for the first time since the defeat brisbane A week ago, indicating that he would remain in this position.
Asked whether there would be changes to the batting group after some costly failures, McCullum said: “I wouldn’t think so. To react without thinking and chop and change a systematic batting line-up is not really our style.”
“We know we haven’t scored enough runs so far in this series, but for us to go on and win this series, it’s not about ruining what has been successful for us over the last few years. It’s about having more conviction.
“It’s about making sure that our plans and our discipline around that are just a little bit tighter. Making sure that when we go out there we have full confidence in what we’re able to accomplish.”
A defeat in South Australia would end England’s hopes of regaining the Vase in time, and such a result would increase the pressure on those in charge.
McCullum was unimpressed by the suggestion that his job could be at risk in the coming weeks and claimed that protecting himself from scrutiny was not a motivating factor in the decisions.
“I don’t know, but honestly, it doesn’t really bother me,” he said.
“Professional game, it’s not easy and you work to the best of your ability. I definitely don’t coach to protect the job. I coach to get the best out of people and it’s the same with the captain.”
“We both go our way with the same level of conviction and that won’t change this week just because the prize is at its highest level. I strongly believe that if we play our best cricket, we have a big chance in this Test match. If we do that, the narrative changes and the momentum of the series changes. It is all in front of us to achieve over the next few days.”
McCullum was in the news after England’s eight-wicket defeat at the Gabba last time out when he suggested his team was “over-prepared” for the game after five net sessions.
Given the abundance of criticism of the tourists’ light-hearted approach to their warm-up programme, it was a provocative choice of words. And he believed it was somewhat of a deliberate attempt to take the post-mortem away from the team.
He said, “What you say to them and then what you say in the media can be quite different. I will always protect my players and if it means it puts me in the spotlight, I have no problem with that.”
“You don’t want anyone reading the media within your set-up, sometimes that happens, right? So you have to be savvy enough to be able to make some plays, which will hopefully allow you to buy some time and give your team some time to buy in.
“I’m happy wearing it. Not everyone will agree with it but at least the focus is on me and not the boys.”