England Cricket Board defends decision to stick with Brendon McCullum as coach

Tuesday, 24 March 2026

England captain Ben Stokes said he had so much more to give and was “so happy to do it“ alongside Brendon McCullum after the ECB had defended its decision to stick with the head coach.

Stokes said on Tuesday (NZT) that the period since England's tame 4-1 Ashes series defeat had been the hardest of his Test captaincy, with lows that made him want to cry.

McCullum's position had come under intense scrutiny but the ECB insisted that a football-style “cull” would only have hindered the team's recovery.

After a comprehensive review into the series down under, the ECB chief executive Richard Gould and managing director of men's cricket Rob Key addressed the media at Lord's to outline a shift towards a more “ruthless” and “disciplined” era.

Addressing criticism that the review had resulted in merely tweaking around the edges, with Key, McCullum and Stokes all remaining in position, Gould, the son of the former football manager Bobby Gould, said: “Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership. It's not like football where there's a single point of failure or success with a manager.

“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That's not the route that we're going to take. I've seen the driving ambition and determination that we're lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.”

However, Gould and Key admitted that the “ultra-relaxed” culture under McCullum and Stokes had drifted into unprofessionalism amid allegations of excessive drinking and a stag-do culture. “We go too far sometimes where you end up trying to create an environment that's relaxed - trying to actually trust the players to make the right decisions. They don't always do that,” Key said.

“In some regards, you take away the choice. Sometimes if they can't be trusted to make the right decision, you take that away and you make it for them.”

Stokes said on Instagram: “Dear England cricket supporters and fans, being England captain is the greatest honour a player can be given and I do not take it for granted. It has its highs and it has its lows, it makes you want to smile it makes you want to cry. It completely and utterly consumes you and feels like it's the only thing in your life at times.

“The last three months has without a doubt been the hardest period of my captaincy journey, it's tested me in so many different ways and I'm sure every other captain has gone through this as well.

“Baz, Rob and myself have the passion and desire to take this team forward, we are going to give you everything we have, we know we made mistakes along the way and we have learnt from those mistakes, you learn more from failure than success.

“I have learnt a lot about myself but the most important thing that I want the fans to know is that … I F*****G love cricket, I F*****G love this team, I F*****G love being England captain and I have got so much more to give to this role and I'm so happy that I get to do it with Baz and Rob.”

The review was led by Gould and Key, with former players and coaches involved in previous Ashes failures among those consulted, and it has, they said, highlighted a need to move away from the “slog or block” mentality that plagued the batting line-up, and for more consequences for repeated failures. Key was blunt about the team's inability to adapt to match and series situations during the Ashes.

“This thing about ‘it's only one way or the other, blocking or slogging’, has never been the case - we've spoken about it, but not done it,” Key said. “What you want is players that can still score against the best bowlers in the world if you're a batter, but actually you've got to be relentless. No more getting up to 60, 70 and chipping one up in the air and thinking that's all right.”

To rectify these failings, the ECB is implementing structural changes, including broadening the number of people involved in decision-making. It is appointing a new national selector to replace Luke Wright, who stepped down after the T20 World Cup, and a “County Insight Group“ to try to heal the rift that has been developing between the counties and England. The governing body has also begun to address the criticisms that McCullum did not have enough technical coaches in his backroom staff by enticing Troy Cooley away from his coaching job with India to work with the fast bowlers.

Key acknowledged the perception that there have been no consequences for failure, with very few players during his time in charge losing their place in the side, but said that would change. He added that the policy of unconditional backing for a core group of players had reached its limit, leading sometimes to a lack of accountability in the side.

“In terms of squad selection, we have put a real premium on having a settled team. We overplayed that really. We wanted to turn up in Australia with a settled side with everyone who knew their role,” Key said. “But what happens then is that there's a lack of consequence really for substandard performance. Certainly that can be the perception as well. And that's one of the things that we overplayed.”

Key framed this summer as a hard reset for expectations on the players, warning that the “relaxed“ era of Bazball would no longer excuse poor match awareness and decision-making, hinting that there would be opportunities for new faces in the team.

“This is a really interesting start to the summer because you're going to see what we need from our players. At the start of last year we'd put a real premium on having a settled team. Now there's opportunities at the start of this year.”

Asked about the relationship between McCullum and Stokes, who appeared to drift apart in their philosophy and strategy during the Ashes, the ECB insisted that their relationship was “fine”, but that they have had a number of conversations to discuss their feelings on the direction of the team.

Key dismissed suggestions of a rift, clarifying that while the two have “robust discussions” they remain aligned in their vision for the side. “There's never been a moment where they've had a massive bust-up,” Key said, acknowledging that while “Ben's way is probably slightly more conservative to Brendon’s”, they share a commitment to an aggressive but evolved style of play.

– The Times, London