McCullum believes England got the toss wrong at Edgbaston, admitting ‘We ran second for five days’ post-game.
In the second Test, India won by a massive 336 runs to tie the series 1-1, and Brendon McCullum acknowledged that England made a mistake by choosing to bowl first on a surface that did not develop as they had anticipated.
The desire for pitches with good pace and carry that, importantly, do not deteriorate greatly over five days has been openly expressed by England. An example of this was Headingley, where England won the toss and, after inserting India, easily reached their target of 371 on the last day.
Requests have been made for pitches that “suit what we want to go for and how we want to play our cricket,” Ben Stokes disclosed on the eve of this Test. However, he acknowledged that there was some doubt regarding the Edgbaston pitch’s performance, as a warm, dry summer made ground staff preparations a little more difficult.
However, England was found wanting and thought that the situation underfoot would develop in a particular way. India scored 587 on their first attempt, and the visitors started their second innings barely 180 ahead thanks to Jamie Smith’s undefeated 184 and Harry Brook’s 158 on a scorecard of six ducks.
McCullum, while aware England did not help themselves with bat or ball, acknowledged the first mistake was made at the toss.
“I think, as the game unfolded, we probably looked back on that toss and said ‘did we miss an opportunity there’, and it’s probably fair,” he said. “We didn’t expect that the wicket would play quite as it did and hence we probably got it slightly wrong. But we did have them 200 for 5 and we weren’t able to capitalise on that position and when you win the toss and bowl you’re hoping to, well, you’re not anticipating the opposition’s going to score 580 and then, from that point, we’re behind the game.
“It was only a brilliant partnership from Jamie Smith and Harry Brook which gave us any balance in the game throughout the five days. That’s something we’ve got to look at. We’re not rigid with our plans. It’s just we thought this pitch might get better to bat on as we went through the five days but as we saw it didn’t.”