The Ashes: England coach Brendon McCullum backs his players to make amends after Australia hammering

Monday, 24 November 2025

Brendon McCullum is yet to give a press conference in which he does not exude calm belief, but speaking barely half an hour after England's evisceration in the first Test in Perth, it was easy to detect the head coach's concerns lurking beneath the surface.

He knows the danger that a long tour like this can easily spiral out of control after such a gut-wrenching start. England rarely play series spanning two months away from home, and that can create problems when the environment is hostile and results are bad.

In only a few minutes McCullum referenced the value of camaraderie on three occasions and the need to keep his playing group tight four times. His job was to 'block out the doubts and insecurities that can creep in, because if that happens you have no chance'. If his players don't stick to their style of play, 'we're in trouble'.

If this series goes off the rails, it's not only the players who will take a heavy hit. So too 'Brand McCullum', which is under growing scrutiny since he became head coach across all formats at the start of the year. Discounting a short tour to Ireland, England's record overseas under him reads: won 2, lost 14.

His insistence on only training when it is useful and not doing things 'for optics', as well as his desire to foster togetherness, means he is unlikely to send any leading players to Canberra for a two-day pink-ball match against a Prime Minister's XI at the weekend. The squad is scheduled to move to Brisbane on Wednesday before the second Test there begins on Thursday, December 4.

The Canberra game is part of the official tour, but England's intention was always to fill the side with players from the Lions team who are shadowing the main squad. However, given that the Gabba Test is a day-nighter, practice under lights may be useful, especially for the batsmen after their sorry efforts in losing 20 wickets in 405 balls.

Asked about the Canberra option, McCullum said: 'We've got to work out whether that extra cricket is the key or making sure that camaraderie is tight and morale doesn't drop. Ben Stokes and I believe in keeping this group really tight. We're not married to any position. We'll work it out in the coming days.'

The former England captain Michael Vaughan said it would be 'amateurish' for the team not to have game practice but Stuart Law, who knows local conditions as a past player and coach, said a game in Canberra would be counterproductive. 'I wouldn't want to bat in Canberra and then go to Brisbane,' he said. 'You've got a ball bouncing at knee high and then a ball bouncing at chest high. It doesn't do you much good.'

Stokes and McCullum were appointed after England's disastrous tour here four years ago and neither they nor the managing director, Rob Key, can afford for this tour to end as badly as that one. This is the first time that this management team have failed to win the first Test of an overseas series, but they do have experience of coming back from bad starts, both at home, against South Africa in 2022 and in the previous Ashes series in 2023 when they went 2-0 down but secured a 2-2 draw. Those are the inspirations now.

Asked if he had a message for the thousands of England fans in Perth, McCullum said: 'I'd say keep the faith. We know what our best game is. We've been in this situation before, we've been insulating against morale dropping too low for the last few years and nothing will change that. We head into Brisbane with high hopes. Sometimes we get beaten and it looks ugly, but there are times when having that type of mentality allows us to still believe in our abilities. That's going to be required [now].

'We know how big this series is, how disappointed the fans will be. We're incredibly disappointed. We are better than what we showed in the last four hours [on Saturday]. We're going to have to find that knockout punch when we need it.'

England are likely to keep the same XI. Without a spare opener, Zak Crawley's place is under little threat despite collecting an 11-ball pair. 'We believe he is a quality player, particularly in these conditions, against this opposition,' McCullum said. 'He's done really well in combination with Ben Duckett, and I'd expect a strong bounceback. Sometimes you get out early, right? It would have been nice if he hadn't, but that's life. If he can get going, he can do damage.'

Crawley has now displaced Rory Burns, who was jettisoned after the 2021-22 tour, as the England Test opener with the lowest average (30.22) among those who have batted 50 times.

McCullum echoed Stokes's comments that England could not long dwell on what had happened. 'Our best method of getting back into this series is to do what we've done before when under pressure. When things haven't quite worked out, that's when you've got to stay calm, plot a path forward and keep the boys' eyes on the prize. That's my belief as a coach and that's the captain's belief.'

Remaining Ashes series schedule

Dec 4-8: Second test at The Gabba, Brisbane, 5pm (NZT)

Dec 17-21: Third test at Adelaide Oval, 12.30pm

Dec 26-30: Fourth test at Melbourne Cricket Ground, 12.30pm

Jan 4-8: Fifth test at Sydney Cricket Ground, 12.30pm

– The Times, London