Ashes 2023: Brendon McCullum Clarifies His Comment On Having A Beer With Australia Following Jonny Bairstow’s Controversial Run-Out Dismissal At Lord’s

New Delhi: England’s test cricket team head coach Brendon McCullum has shared his willingness to share a beer with the Australian squad, a statement that contrasted sharply with his earlier stance following the controversial dismissal of Jonny Bairstow during the Lord’s Test.

The incident happened when Bairstow had left his crease, believing the ball was dead, only for Australian wicket-keeper Alex Carey to underarm the ball at the stumps, leading to Bairstow’s dismissal during the second test match of the Ashes 2023 series at Lord’s. That incident sparked massive controversy and there were boos from the crowd.

After the conclusion of the second test during the conversation with the BBC, Brendon McCullum said that he cannot imagine sharing a drink with the Australian team.

“I can’t imagine we’ll be having a beer with them any time soon,” said McCullum.

“You’ve got to live with the decisions you make,” he said.

Brendon McCullum changes his idea on having a beer with the Aussies pic.twitter.com/eNseV22dpw

— CricTracker (@Cricketracker) August 2, 2023

However, the England Test team coach clarified that his comments had been misinterpreted. As quoted by Reuters, McCullum said that he was misconstrued earlier.

“Yeah, we’ll have a beer,” McCullum said with a laugh when asked by reporters about his previous comments.

“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,” Brendon McCullum said.

“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,” said McCullum.

The 41-year-old said that the incident would not affect his relationship with the Australian team and he fondly referred to Pat Cummins as a champion player and considered him a friend. “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.”

England bowled out Australia for 334 runs on day 5 of the fifth and final test match at KIA Oval, London to win the game by 49 runs and to draw the five-match series by 2-2.