I do not do bugger all, to be honest: England coach McCullum on side's Test cricket transformation

Karachi: Following his side's eight-wicket win over Pakistan in the third and final Test, England Test head coach Brendon McCullum jokingly remarked that he has not done "bugger all" in his side's recent transformation in the way they play the Test cricket under his and skipper Ben Stokes' leadership.
England defeated Pakistan by eight wickets in the final test of the three-match series to complete a 3-0 clean sweep after their comprehensive performance throughout the series here at the National Stadium, Karachi on Tuesday. "The skipper never lets the game drift. He has always got something happening. He is always pulling a string somewhere and the guys follow him. It is a great combination to have, and it makes it pretty easy when you are watching from up in the coach's box," ESPNCricinfo quoted McCullum as saying to Sky Sports after the match.

"There is maverick in it and genius in a lot of it. He is just got an insatiable appetite to keep moving the game forward, which is super-impressive. But for me, it is the man management, it is the consistency of message, it is a pure passion and drives that he has got to make a significant difference in Test cricket, and English cricket, which is most impressive."

"So I feel incredibly lucky that I have taken over this job when Stokesy has got the reins, and I think he is only going to get better and better and better, which is quite scary. Because if he continues to improve and drive this team forward then, with the talent that sits within the dressing room, they will give it a good shake anyway."
"I do not do bugger all, to be honest," McCullum joked. "I just make sure that the guys remain consistent with their own beliefs, and that they all want to be the best version of themselves. To be honest, it is a really easy job ... do not tell my bosses. But I am really enjoying myself, and I couldn't I could not have asked for a better opportunity," McCullum concluded his point.
McCullum said that Stokes was absolutely magnificent in the series.
"Not just on the field, where everyone sees the decisions he makes and the strings he pulls, but it's his man-management and his ability to get the very best out of each member of the side, off the field, which is the most impressive part from our point of view," said McCullum.
"It is the captain's mantra, this side is very much in the image of the skipper. And Stokesy wants the guys to go out there and play with the most amount of freedom that they can."

"He's got the benefit of a long and distinguished career behind him, and he is in that stage of his life where he wants to do something significant and make a real impact, not just on the game but on other people's careers. He has identified that taking away that pressure and that fear of failure allows the talent and the skill to come out," he concluded his point.
Stokes was present on the crease on the final day and finished at 35* in England's run-chase of 167 runs. But England's efforts from the first day of the series in Rawalpindi, in which they scored a massive 506/4, including four tons from Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Harry Brook, set the tone for the rest of the series.
"That was more than I thought we were going to make, to be honest. The way that Crawley and Duckett started for us in that Test match, it really laid a marker out for where this team wants to be, and for how brave our cricket needs to be as well," said McCullum.
"It was about playing the role that the team needs you to play, rather than getting too caught up in your own stuff, and it was a huge day that allowed us to try and force a result. Maybe the series would have been different if we had not have gone down that route," he added.
A huge aspect of England's clean sweep was their ability to take all 20 wickets in a match. From part-timer spinner Will Jacks taking a six-fer on debut, to use of reverse swing in Rawalpindi, to spinner Jack Leach and pacer Mark Wood's heroics in Multan, to the emergence of an 18-year old Rehan Ahmed in the final Test, the series had it all.

"It is a great achievement. If you look at the whole six or seven months, we have taken 20 wickets in a Test on nine out of 10 occasions. So it is one thing scoring fast and putting teams under pressure with the bat, but you got to be able to bowl teams out as well," said the coach.
"And the mantra within the group is 'how do we take wickets?' Every time we have got the ball in our hand, 'how are we going to try and get this guy out?' If you go for runs, you go for runs, but we back ourselves that will chase those runs down later on. I think once you have that mindset, you free yourself up from having to worry about runs. It allows you to look at things with a positive mantra," concluded McCullum.
Electing to bat first, Pakistan had posted 304 in their first innings, with fifties by skipper Babar Azam (78) and Agha Salman (56). Spinner Jack Leach (4/140) was the pick of the bowlers for England.
England gained a 50-run lead in the match and they were bundled out for 354 in their first innings. Harry Brook (111) and Ben Foakes (64) were the leading batters for the visitors. Nauman Ali (4/126) and Abrar Ahmed (4/150) were standout bowlers for Pakistan.
A five-wicket haul on debut by Rehan (5/48), who became the youngest to accomplish the feat on Test debut, bundled out Pakistan for 216 runs in their second innings. Skipper Babar Azam (54) and Saud Shakeel (53) scored valuable fifties that helped Pakistan gain a 166-run lead.
England chased down the total easily, ending with 170/2 in 28.1 overs, with Ben Duckett (82* off 78 balls) and Stokes (35* off 43 balls) being unbeaten. England won by eight wickets to clinch the series 3-0.
Brief Scores: England 354 (Brook 111, Foakes 64, Pope 51; Nauman 4-126, Abrar 4-150) and 170/ 2 (Duckett 82*, Zak Crawley 41; Abrar Ahmed 2-78) beat Pakistan 304 (Babar 78, Salman 56; Leach 4-140) and 216 (Babar 54, Shakeel 53; Rehan 5-48) (ANI)