England head coach Brendan McCullum is digging in and says he will not be told what to do by the ECB despite the fact they’re the ones paying his wages.
With an avalanche of criticism pouring down following another disastrous Ashes tour of Australia, the polarising Kiwi has struck a defiant tone that suggests a reckoning is coming—one way or another.
Speaking with former England captain Nasser Hussain on Sky Sports UK immediately following the fifth and final Test in Sydney, McCullum was clearly annoyed at suggestions England’s aggressive tactics were in need of an overhaul.
“I take offence to that Nasser,” McCullum said, explaining he still has conviction in the approach that has resulted in a 4-1 series loss.
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“You have to have conviction in what you believe in, to throw out everything that’s worked and what we’ve been able to achieve in pursuit of something that is completely unknown doesn’t make any sense,” he added.
‘McCullum, Rob Key and Ben Stokes sold a lie for three years’ says Boycott
Unsurprisingly, several former England players shared somewhat different views, including Ian Botham, the BBC’s Jonathan Agnew and Sir Geoffrey Boycott who was as scathing as ever in The Telegraph.
“England’s three wise men turned out to be the three stooges,” Boycott wrote as only he can.
“McCullum, Rob Key and Ben Stokes sold a lie for three years, (they) said they had been planning for the Ashes all that time but this was a slapstick tour riddled with mistakes and they deserved to lose 4-1.
“McCullum’s philosophy is do your own thing. Play without a care in the world. Express yourselves and if you get out, no problem, it's not your fault. Nobody tells them off, no accountability, and nobody gets dropped so they just keep doing the same daft things.”
Kevin Pietersen took a slightly different view, suggesting the series result was more a matter of England lacking enough players of Test match quality.
“Apart from Stokes, Root, Archer, Bethell and Brook WITH a brain, the team isn’t good enough to compete with Australia or India,” Pietersen lamented on X.
“It’s proven just on this tour with Australia missing most of their best players. All the pre-tour game chat, discipline chat and now investigations, they are now mere distractions. It’s very simple.”
Former Test captain Michael Vaughan said he was prepared to give McCullum more time, stressing he’s still a young coach by international cricket standards, but agreed serious changes are urgently needed.
“I have no problem with them (McCullum and Robert Key) carrying on, but they have to accept the detail, the tactics, the planning, the preparation—everything about Australia looks like a professional operation, England doesn’t look like that,” Vaughan told Cricbuzz.
The ECB has already announced a major review of the shambolic tour is underway and will be competed before England’s home series against New Zealand in June.
Whether their New Zealand coach is part of that series remains uncertain.