England coach addresses job security amid Ashes series pressure

In the words of Jason Gillespie, who coached in England and Australia after an illustrious Test career as a fast bowler, “I’m not sure any coach in the history of professional sport has been given as much rein as Brendon McCullum has.”

Growing up in the wintry working-class environment of Dunedin, McCullum was the son of Stuart, a professional cricketer for Otago, and showed much talent at an early age as a rugby player; So much so that he was once selected ahead of Dan Carter for a school representative team.

McCullum was strongly encouraged to focus on cricket by no less a figure than Sir Richard Hadlee, and this set him on the path to a long career in New Zealand and eventually the job in England.

Throughout the process, McCullum showed the pugnacity of a rugby player, but also developed the emotional intelligence and perspective to lead a group of young men. Essentially, he adopted a “no consequences” approach following the death of Phillip Hughes in 2014, when he had to simultaneously captain the Black Caps team in a Test match in the UAE. His then trusted psychologist, Gilbert Enoka, was part of England’s makeup on this tour.

Matthew Hayden, who played alongside McCullum at the Brisbane Heat, is an advocate of his approach and thinks England do not need to bring in an Australian to succeed in the Ashes on these shores.

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“I support Brendon McCullum in this role, he loves the way he processes the game, even being asked questions by one or two members of the team, sitting back and looking at the person before the player,” says Hayden. “It’s a very strong skill set that Brendon has because we (cricketers) are a very special group of individuals who travel the world together and play for the same side.

“But they have very different roles. You have to stand on your own two feet without being individualistic, so it’s a very difficult balance. I don’t think that’s a prerequisite.” [to be Australian] Coaching England in this country.

“I think Brendon will have enough drive, determination, experience and knowledge. England are not out of the series. But when I look at the determination of the Australian players, they have extraordinary determination as a group. The only one from England who can do that is Ben Stokes.”

After early success for Bazball, as England broke records and won exciting matches, it became clear that Stokes and McCullum were building something that could challenge Australia Down Under.

But over time the team changed. There’s no more Jimmy Anderson or Stuart Broad, long-serving assistant coach Paul Collingwood is fading away and there’s a callow vice-captain in Harry Brook with the laid-back batting approach of Ben Stokes.

Stokes’ remarks after the Gabba Test meant he criticized his players, arguing that Australia was no place for “weak men” and that there needed to be frank discussions in the dressing room about the way forward.

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After four days in Noosa, which McCullum noted was planned a year ago, the coach addressed the fact that it would be wrong for England to “cut and replace” what they believed would work in Australia. However, better practice of skills with bat and ball will be important.

“We came here with high hopes and expectations, we had a plan that we thought would be successful. [and] give us the best chance to be successful,” McCullum said. “We haven’t been able to fully execute that so far and Australia have seized those key moments and that’s why they’ve gone 2-0 up.

“That doesn’t mean we’re going to throw that plan away now. It does mean we’ve got to weed out some of the things we haven’t done quite right and make sure we still have that belief in what we’re trying to achieve. I think those conditions should suit our style a little bit better too… it’s probably more suited to our best style of cricket.”

Having committed to this plan, including avoiding warm-up matches against quality opposition despite overtures from Cricket Australia, McCullum will now sit back and see whether this series will change the path of the 2023 competition or revert to the more familiar story of the English in Australia. Either way, he’ll still stick to the mentality that won him the England job.

“Everything that happens is out of your control,” McCullum said. “You just try to protect the goal, keep the confidence in the players high, you protect the perimeter. I will never hesitate to protect my players, that’s your job as a leader. Sometimes you have to do your own review and that’s okay too.

“That’s why you’re in this business. You sign up for these jobs because you know you’re resilient enough to handle these situations and you have a layer of protection so the kids’ confidence doesn’t wane too much.”

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