Agency :
Brendon McCullum was perhaps the more obvious choice to coach England’s limited-overs sides but now that he’s being given the reins of the Test side, he’s not shying away from taking inspiration from the side’s turnaround in white-ball cricket.
“I looked at what England have achieved in white-ball cricket, and what Eoin Morgan has done is what I’m hoping to do with Ben Stokes,” he said at his unveiling as Chris Siverwood’s successor at Lord’s. “Why can’t the same thing happen with the Test side? Ben wants to bring about that same freedom of mindset and strip away some of the noise that comes with playing at this level. My views are aligned with his.
The Ashes loss in Australia saw Silverwood sacked as a coach and the series defeat in the West Indies that closely followed was the tipping point for Joe Root as captain. The change in order reflected the dwindling fortunes for England who are now ranked as low as sixth.
“It (taking England to No 1) is what we are all aspiring to do,” McCullum said. “It will take a bit of time but we want to make sure by the Ashes next year we will be taking on the best teams in the world and are either beating them or are very difficult to beat.
McCullum, who doesn’t have any first-class coaching experience, said he spoke to Andy Flower and Trevor Bayliss, both of whom successfully took to the England coaching ecosystem despite coming from a different place.
“Both Andy and TB were similar in their view that you’ve got to take pressure away from these guys. Maybe that’s the thing with coming in from overseas. You can try to bring in a more simplified method. I can look at things with a different lens. I see guys who are maybe stuck with the fear of failure rather than the possibility of success. If we can take away some of the stuff that sits on the outside and brings baggage, then talent will come to the fore.
“My skills are not necessarily around taking a team from good to great. My skills lie in turning a team in a bit of trouble into one that has long-term sustainable success. If you are going to change your entire life for something, it has got to be a pretty big challenge. And opportunities like this don’t come around too often.
“I’m very proud of my heritage and what I’ve achieved for my country. I’ve invested a lot of my life in trying to perform for New Zealand and I feel I left their camp in a better position than when I took over as captain. I’ll continue to look out for a lot of the guys I’ve shared experiences with, but this is a job where you’re being tasked with trying to bring about change and hopefully do something that lasts a long time into the future. That’s a pretty enticing opportunity.”
McCullum was candid about England selection for the Tests against New Zealand and threw his weight behind Ollie Pope at No 3.
