Baz McCullum

Accountability is not weakness. "My bad" resets faster than deflection.

Bye-bye Baz reads a tough headline. But some will say, fair

England’s cricket coach Brendan McCullum has been released from one of his tenures: England’s red-ball (Test cricket) coach. Baz remains as the white-ball coach, more a decision based on shekels than sense—his contract runs through 2027. His employers, the ECB, are weak bastards.

Rob Key, McCullum’s report-to manager, said in his presser that Baz leaves the team in great shape, ready to launch into the next phase of their development. They’ve lost five of their last seven Tests, broke curfews, got on the piss in Noosa, but Mr Key knows better.

It had me thinking about “User error.”

The term first surfaced in the computer space. Back then, engineers had little empathy for users who mishandled their software. Computers routinely fired back error messages like **ID10T, or PICNIC (Problem in Chair, Not in Computer). The gap between rudimentary users and systems was wide, only bridged by a small group of self-styled NERDS—a person whose IQ exceeds their weight. It helped if you knew a nerd.

England have played some woeful Test cricket of late. The ship looks rudderless. The players, yes, they’re at fault, but leaving them to work it out for themselves is a mistake—that’s been repeated over.

The point is, it’s OK to say, “My bad.” Or a step further, “Sorry, my bad.” Contrary to ECB belief, it’s not showing weakness. “My bad” might allow you to reset quicker.

And on who might be England’s coach, this was my fav suggestion:

“Maybe someone who doesn’t don his cap backwards and wear sunglasses all the time with his feet on the furniture—just saying.”

Nick

I have written more on Brendon McCullum on my SpeakingCricket substack. To avoid user error: go to archive, and search “Baz McCullum.”

It’s OK Baz, we’ve got this