England begin a new era on Wednesday as Brendon McCullum takes charge of his first match as all-format coach against India at Eden Gardens.
Bazball has unquestionably transformed England’s Test cricket over the past three years and McCullum will now look to revitalise the limited-overs teams by implementing some of its essential ingredients.
He starts with the five-match Twenty20 series opening at Eden Gardens, followed by three 50-over matches against the Indians, before travelling to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy next month.
England have already gone through one white-ball revolution, under Eoin Morgan and Trevor Bayliss, and now need another, after the golden era that culminated in holding the 50-over and T20 world titles at the same time hit the buffers in the last two years.
Here, Mail Sport examines the main areas of focus for a team that has lost 13 of its most recent 24 Twenty20s against major nations and 12 of its last 20 50-over internationals:
Brendon McCullum (left) and Jos Buttler’s relationship will be crucial to bringing back white-ball glory
England need another white-ball revolution, this time under McCullum and Buttler
A HAPPY CAPTAIN
When announced as successor to Matthew Mott for England’s white-ball teams, McCullum made a point of saying that captain Jos Buttler needed to cheer up.
‘I’ve been practising my smile in front of the mirror,’ Buttler joked yesterday. Making light of it, though, was not a denial that his demeanour changed for the worse during a slump that began soon after England became double world champions in 2022.
Let’s face it, only winners tend to be grinners and the downward trajectory of his side’s progress was bound to have an adverse effect.
Evidence that injecting the fun back into Buttler, both as player and captain, would catalyse a turnaround came during November’s tour of the Caribbean, when he cut a much more relaxed figure. England defeated West Indies 3-1 in the T20s.
McCullum’s decision to out Buttler’s grumpiness publicly in September also spoke of the strength of their relationship. When the New Zealander was paired with Ben Stokes in mid-2022, they required a period of acquaintance, but the McCullum-Buttler axis needs no such bedding-in, as they have got to know each other well through mutual friend Morgan.
It was also McCullum who persuaded Buttler to give up the wicket-keeping gloves and concentrate on wearing the armband – just weeks after the latter’s claim at last year’s T20 World Cup that his best view as captain came from behind the stumps.
McCullum’s personal experience came into play here: his own dynamic form of leadership was shaped once injury forced him into the field late in his career.
BROOK APPOINTMENT
Harry Brook has been drafted in to support Buttler as vice-captain and keep the fields funky
To ensure their playbook is chock-full of attacking moves, Harry Brook has been made Buttler’s official deputy.
England had not gone so far as announcing a vice-captain since December 2023 when Sam Curran stepped into Moeen Ali’s shoes versus the Windies, and after Buttler’s calf injury kept him out last year, Phil Salt, Brook and Liam Livingstone all took turns in charge.
Explaining why it was the ex-England Under 19 captain Brook that had emerged from that trio of locums, Buttler said: ‘As a team, we want to be really watchable, really exciting and aggressive. A team that wants to take the game on.
‘Certainly the way Harry plays his cricket, watching him from the side captain against Australia, he was as positive a captain as I’ve ever seen, so that’s something to tap into.’
FUNKY FIELDS
Buttler made a stuttering beginning to life as white-ball captain but now has a fresh start
Brook will be instrumental in this given his aggressive tactics versus the Australians last September.
Buttler also became creative during the winter win over the Windies, posting himself at short leg in two of the encounters in the hunt for early breakthroughs with the ball.
‘Not keeping wicket means you’ve got a little bit more time to think about things and I asked myself, “what could I do that gave the opposition something to think about?”‘ Buttler reflected.
‘I played against Baz all those years ago in that 2015 World Cup game in Wellington, when he had four slips and a gully from ball one (New Zealand knocked England over for 123 and won by eight wickets). Whether I’ll quite get that far, we’ll have to see.’
‘That’s the way the game is transitioning, though. You need to find ways to take wickets, or even try to find a way of distracting batters.
‘So, it might be the field placings that do that, to take players away from just sort of standing and hitting, and us being sort of reactive to that.
‘You need to get ahead, and in this day and age you need to try to get people out. If they spend any time at the crease, they can hurt you.’
PACE ASSAULT
Brydon Carse (bowling) is one of six express quicks in the England squad to face India
England are intent on making life uncomfortable for opposition batsmen with quick bowling and Mark Wood and Jofra Archer bowling in tandem on surfaces that should bring pace and bounce is a mouth-watering prospect.
McCullum buys into the theory that the less time a player has to react, the more likely they are to make a mistake, and he is an advocate of fielding as many bowlers capable of operating around the 90mph mark as possible.
Hence, England arrived in Asia with six quicks – Wood, Archer, Gus Atkinson, Saqib Mahmood, Brydon Carse and Jamie Overton – and only two specialist spinners in Adil Rashid and Rehan Ahmed.
However, on the best batting decks, it is the ability to go up and down the gears, duping opponents by reducing as well as increasing velocity that can prove key.
In this regard, Archer remains England’s most valuable asset, having mastered knuckleballs and slower deliveries since emerging on the international scene in the World Cup-winning year of 2019.
Aware that batters can set themselves if a bowler is one-paced, even if that pace is express, Wood spent December’s England Lions camp in South Africa practising his pace-off deliveries in a bid to intersperse them with his 96mph rockets.
NO MORE CHOPPING AND CHANGING
Ben Duckett (second left) with Jacob Bethell and Jamie Smith, two England stars of the future
McCullum is intent on streamlining the number of players he uses across the three formats, as highlighted by the fact that the squad that travelled here last weekend and the one on duty for next month’s ODI series and Champions Trophy in Pakistan will show just one change – Joe Root replacing 20-year-old Ahmed.
Of the 16 selected for the first assignments of a mouthwatering 2025 that finishes with the Ashes, all but Buttler, Salt and Rashid have played Test cricket under McCullum.
The push for continuity has given Ben Duckett the chance to establish himself as opener across all three formats, having last fulfilled the role in international Twenty20 cricket six years ago.
And in an ideal world, the same pack of pacemen will be contesting Test places against Australia as the year comes to its conclusion.
Having all of his available A-listers on a tour like this – only Ben Stokes, recovering from hamstring surgery back home, is missing – provides a stark contrast to England’s corresponding early-year trips to South Africa and Bangladesh two years ago.
Then, centrally-contracted players were permitted to prioritise franchise Twenty20 tournaments over international fixtures and others turned down call-ups to fulfil existing contracts with franchises, forcing Mott to muddle through the Bangladesh trip undermanned.
THE BAZBALL TOUCH
Jofra Archer’s return will be a huge boost to an England white-ball side that has lost its magic
One of McCullum’s most-pedalled phrases during his Test tenure has been ‘run towards the danger,’ and he wants the limited-overs team to emulate the counter-attacking policy employed by Stokes’ red-ball side.
‘There will be times when we come off the road a little bit and it will look pretty average, but you know, we’ll just keep getting towards what we think is going to give us our greatest chance,’ he said.
‘We’ve got a batting lineup which is as powerful as any in the world, we’ve got gun spinners, very good fielders and guys who bowl absolute rockets with the ball. We’ve got options to entertain and give us the best chance of success.
‘We’ll use the next few weeks to try and hit the ground running – I’m sure there will be some times where we don’t quite get it right but hopefully we chisel away at that over the next few weeks and we’ll be in good shape come the Champions Trophy.’
