If Brendon McCullum may not enjoy spending the Test summer on probation, then he should console himself with the thought that he’s lucky still to be in the role.
Not many coaches survive thrashings in Australia: just ask Duncan Fletcher, Andy Flower and Chris Silverwood. Only Trevor Bayliss has bucked the trend, and that was because England were building towards the 2019 home World Cup when he presided over a 4–0 Ashes defeat in 2017-18.
Ironically, perhaps, McCullum has benefited from the blood-letting of the past. Wary of repeating a familiar cycle of post-Ashes sackings, the ECB have given him a chance to prove he can transform the fortunes of the Test team for a second time, having initially done so when England won 10 of his first 11 Tests after his appointment as head coach in 2022.
It has helped that, since the Ashes, England have been a slicker outfit both on and off the field. Fourteen white-ball games under the leadership of Harry Brook in the subcontinent produced 11 wins and a narrow World Cup semi-final defeat by India in Mumbai.
The imposition of a curfew, meanwhile, reflects McCullum’s acceptance that England’s off-field looseness – exemplified by the late-night video of an inebriated Ben Duckett in Noosa, and the revelation that Brook had been punched by a bouncer in Wellington before the Ashes – had to change.
He can also point to a Test record that remains healthy overall, with 26 wins set against 18 defeats, and only three series defeats out of 12, even if the four against Australia and India – the two opponents who remain England’s yardstick – have produced two draws and two defeats.
If Brendon McCullum may not enjoy spending the Test summer on probation, then he should console himself with the thought that he’s lucky still to be in the role
Not many coaches survive thrashings in Australia: just ask Duncan Fletcher, Andy Flower and Chris Silverwood
Despite all that, the ECB’s decision to stick with McCullum is fraught with risk.
For one thing, it won’t take much for grumbles to re-emerge from fans still angry about the Ashes debacle, and that means nothing less than two comprehensive series victories this summer against New Zealand and Pakistan will do.
And that is why McCullum could still be out of a job if the on-field carelessness that cost England in Australia rears its head once more.
But there is another potential stumbling block: the head coach’s relationship with his captain. The last thing Ben Stokes did in Australia was to insist that the two men got on as well as ever, and to reiterate McCullum’s credentials.
Yet it was clear between the second and third Tests in Brisbane and Adelaide that they were no longer singing from precisely the same hymn sheet that had bound them together for three-and-a-half years.
While Stokes reacted to defeat at the Gabba by suggesting Australia was ‘no place for weak men’ and urging his players to locate their inner ‘dog’, McCullum attempted to hold the Bazball line. This, he said, was not the moment to depart from the style they had honed.
The mixed messaging was evident in England’s tentative batting on the second day in Adelaide: despite a flat pitch and temperatures touching 40°C, they closed on 213 for eight from 68 overs, with Stokes stonewalling his way to 45 off 151 balls by stumps.
Even after England’s World Cup exit on Thursday, McCullum was reflecting on a missed opportunity.
It was clear between the second and third Tests in Brisbane and Adelaide that Ben Stokes and McCullum were no longer singing from precisely the same hymn sheet
The mixed messaging was evident in England’s tentative batting in Adelaide: despite a flat pitch and temperatures touching 40°C, Stokes stonewalled his way to 45 off 151 balls
‘Did we play the style of play that we took down to Australia or did we not?’ he said. ‘If we’ve been honest with ourselves, I’d probably say we didn’t.
‘And that’s something that we need to have a good hard conversation around. What is the direction, or style, that we’re wanting to be consistent with?’
Clearly, then, tension remains, and England – or, more precisely, McCullum and Stokes – have the summer to sort it out. If not, the ECB will face the unpalatable scenario of having to appoint a new coach with only six Tests to go before they attempt to regain the Ashes at home in 2027.
Plenty of critics were waiting for the Bazball project to fail this winter, even though it had delivered the Test team some of its finest moments. But the noise will be deafening if McCullum 2.0 endures a crash landing.
