McCullum admits England mistake with Edgbaston toss

BBC News

06-07-2025

Coach Brendon McCullum admitted England "probably" made a mistake in deciding to bowl first during their 336-run defeat by India in the second Test at Edgbaston.Captain Ben Stokes stuck with his preferred tactic of chasing in the fourth innings but that gave India first chance to bat on the pitch and they piled up 587 in the first innings.From there, they were in control of the match and completed victory on the final day by dismissing England for 271, having been set an effectively impossible target of 608."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," McCullum told BBC Test Match Special."We didn't expect that the wicket would play quite as it did and hence we probably got it slightly wrong."
McCullum's words were a rare admission from this England camp that they have made an error. They usually remain steadfast in their wish to look forward rather than back and find the positives in any situation.Four of England's highest 10 fourth-innings chases have come under Stokes and McCullum, including 371 to win the first Test last week and 378 against India at Edgbaston in 2022.That has influenced Stokes' decision to bowl first in 10 of the 11 matches he has won the toss in England. This is only their second defeat when doing so."We thought this pitch might get better to bat on as we went through the five days but as we saw it didn't," McCullum said.Rather than blame the toss, Stokes pointed to England's inability to knock over India's lower order in the first innings, where they recovered from 211-5."No-one's got a crystal ball, no-one really knows what a wicket's going to do," Stokes said."Having them 211-5, we were happy there - even five-down at the end of day one."We just weren't able to bust them open. We had a chance to potentially bowl them out for under 350 on that wicket, which would have been a good effort."Stokes said he was not concerned by his bowlers' toil during the match. England have responded by adding seamer Gus Atkinson, who has missed the first two Tests with a hamstring injury, to an otherwise unchanged squad for the third Test at Lord's which starts on Thursday. Jofra Archer could also come in for his first Test in four years after a series of injuries, while Sam Cook and Jamie Overton could also come into contention given the quick turnaround.England squad for third Test against India: Ben Stokes (captain), Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell, Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Jofra Archer, Sam Cook, Jamie Overton, Shoaib Bashir.
Rested Bumrah to make India return
India captain Shubman Gill confirmed his star bowler Jasprit Bumrah will "definitely" return at Lord's, having sat out this match to manage his return from a back injury.In Bumrah's place, Akash Deep took a superb 10-187 across the match."He bowled with so much heart and skilfully with his lengths," Gill said."He moved it in both directions, which was tough to do. He was magnificent for us."In making 269 in the first innings and 161 in the second, Gill scored 430 runs across the Test - the second most across both innings in Test history.The victory, India's first at Edgbaston, is also his first as captain."I am feeling comfortable with my game and if we can win the series that would be a great achievement for us," Gill, 25, said."Every day is a learning curve for me."