Rob Key Backs Stokes-McCullum Duo to "Evolve, Adapt, Change" After Ashes Defeat

All the hype of 'Bazball' versus Aussies Down Under took barely 11 days to die down as Australia, despite injury and form struggles of their key players, retained the Ashes urn by denying a valiant England a chance to chase a record-breaking 435 runs to keep the series alive. England fell 82 runs short. While England did play some great cricket in patches, there is plenty of fixing they need to do in order to end their wait for a series win in Australia, something they have failed to do since a historic 2010/11 triumph. Australia are now 3-0 up in five match series.

This defeat seems to have cast a doubt over the future of McCullum and Stokes as a leadership group, who pretty much prepared the 'Bazball' mantra of staying attacking, positive, result-oriented and entertaining, keeping in mind the Ashes challenge in Aussie conditions. While many Aussie and English cricketers and fans alike have declared the demise of 'Bazball', Key still holds faith in the duo to turn things around.

Speaking on the Sky Sports Podcast, Key said that while Brendon is an "outstanding" coach, many of the factors that contributed to England's Ashes loss were the team's fault. He also backed the Stokes-McCullum duo to help England's Test team to "evolve, adapt and change" despite not having won any big series against two of their arch-rivals, Australia and India.

"Brendon is an outstanding coach. A lot of this is our fault. It has always been about putting bowlers under pressure, soaking up pressure, but we have not done that well enough, whether against India in the summer or now," he said.

"Brendon's record as a coach is excellent. When you compare him to other coaches, we have not won the big series, but will we have to evolve, adapt, change and become better at all these things we are talking about₹ Of course we will."

"Do I think he's the man to do that₹ If he is as prepared as I am to do it, he is the right man. Brendon is a resilient character. There is nothing I have seen from him that suggests he does not want to."

"When you get these tours, when you are losing in Australia in an Ashes series, half the team do not like the captain and the other half does not like the coach - that is not happening at all on this trip. They have kept the players together remarkably well, considering everything that has gone on. But will we have to evolve₹ Absolutely," he concluded his point.

With this four-year Ashes cycle used as a barometer for England's success and progress, Key admitted that a series whitewash in Aussie land could leave England with no option but to undergo a root-and-branch review, without sparing himself, as he holds an influential position in the English set-up.

"Without question, that is what happens with these things. The decision for the England and Wales Cricket Board [ECB] is exactly that: whether to rip things up and start again. It happens in politics, where you go one way and then the other."

"We as a management group have to get better and evolve, and they have to decide if we are the right people for that. What I would say, in the case of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, is that they have been very good. If you look at everything they have done under the most intense scrutiny over the last three or four years, they have done brilliant things for English cricket."

"As long as they are prepared to evolve, they should stay in it - and the ECB can decide what they want to do with me," he continued.

He admitted that preparation for such a marquee series, which included a white-ball tour to New Zealand and just one warm-up game at Lillac Hill against England Lions, was inadequate.

"There is a difference between planning and getting it wrong," Key said.

"The idea that we did not care about preparation is not true. Clearly, it did not work, so it is hard to argue it was right, but I'll explain the reasons."

"We had a T20 and white-ball series in New Zealand, and it was very important that everyone knew what team this was, what we were about, how we prepared - that nothing was different and we would prepare just as we would anywhere. But it did not work."

"We went to Lilac Hill knowing the conditions were not going to replicate what we had faced, but there is nowhere other than the WACA or Optus Stadium that can replicate those conditions. That was the thinking behind it. We felt it would be sufficient to be ready for that Test match, but it did not work," he concluded.

- ANI