England stick with Brendon McCullum - The New Ball (24.03.26)

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There's a lot made of this England team being just playing one way, which is about slogging,

and that's all Brenda McCullum cares about. Well, actually no. That's not been the case, and he

showed, and that team showed they could adapt, which is going to be so important. And I think

ultimately, it's about who do the players? Who do we think can take English cricket forward?

Who is the one that can get the best out of the best players in this country? And for me,

that was Brenda McCullum. That's Rob Key talking after it became apparent officially overnight that

he would survive. Of course, he would. He was co-leading this internal review alongside

ACB chief executive Richard Gould. But more importantly, more pertinently, Baz McCullum would

survive as the coach, and of course, Ben Stokes as the captain following and Asher's

drumming in the English summer just gone. Baz has so many different strands from this,

but it's become clear that English cricket wasn't yet ready to part ways with Brenda McCullum,

because they still feel as if he has taken this team and his group forward over the past three

years to spot the Asher's defeat. Those were the words of the CEO as well on the same day.

What do you make of this decision? Well, a part of me, actually, most of me, it's not

surprised at all that they've gone in this in this direction that they've just retained

Brenda McCullum. Because we heard all sorts of reports in the lead up to this point,

and even when the T20 World Cup was on, there was the stock off. I mean, going all the way back

to the Adelaide test, if you remember the talk before the third test of the Asher's was,

or Brenda McCullum needs to win at least one live test in this Asher's to keep his job.

He faced up to the media at the Adelaide old before that test, and he spoke his mind,

and he spoke about what is happening in the dressing room and all that.

In the wake of Ben Stokes having said, oh, there's no room for weak men and all,

you know, you could see that, I mean, not everything was on the same page in that English

religious dressing room. Small rift wasn't there. No big blow up, but it was clearly point

attention. Oh, yeah, absolutely. You could see, I mean, A, in the way Ben Stokes batted in that

GABA test, which was, I mean, he's batted like that before, even during the basketball leader,

but that was an extremely different approach that Ben Stokes took alongside Will Jacks,

and with so much time left in the game as well. And that seemed to be a statement,

and the fact that he followed that innings up with his statement about no weak men in his

dressing room, and, you know, there were a lot of talk that it was directed at certain,

or specific players in that team, and then there were changes made to the next test. So,

anyway, going back to the future of Brennan Michaelum, so we were like the first reports came out

of England from very legitimate sources that, yeah, I mean, if he loses this Adelaide oval test,

he's gone, and he did, but he wasn't gone, and then they won the MCG test, which I don't think

many people will remember, because of the way it played out the pitch and everything else.

And then we were told, oh, I mean, the reports came out that T20 World Cup, if he wins,

regardless of whether they win or not, he will still, it won't have an impact on

him keeping the job or not. There was just one report as well that we discussed at the time

that he had to win one test, and they won in Melbourne, and I wonder how much of an impact that

had. Yeah, I was, I mean, the report I had had live test written, like, it was a live test.

Live test, it was written before Adelaide, and, you know, I think it was in the telegraph,

if I'm not mistaken, but anyway, yeah. Anyway, the point is though, I remember having this discussion

with Gerard, I mean, Gerard Wettley, during the ashes on commentary about whether, with the,

with the next ashes so close, and because, you know, let's face it, in Australia and England,

the coach is tenure, or not just the coach, the higher ups tenure go from ashes to ashes series,

and because the next ashes is just 15 months away, if somehow this, and that's when Brendan

McCullum's test coaching tenure ends, if they can pull that off and get the earn back for the

first time since winning it in 2015, then, you know, they, they'll all sign off in glorious light.

I mean, it would be the perfect end to the basketball era, and look where Australia is right now

as a team, there's every chance that there could be in a massive state of transition in that time

as well, right? We, we're still like debating now about what will the Australia's makeup be for

the Bangladesh series in, in August, in terms of the batting lineup, we've had so many discussions

about it. So, I thought maybe that played a role in it as well, but having said all of that,

after what a ten week review and all, and what's come out of it is, oh, yeah, you know what,

you are, everybody was right. We were wrong about a few things, we should have taken country,

a little more seriously. Maybe there was a bit of, you know, maybe there was, there was a bit

too much freedom given to the players. Maybe we only played one way, and let's all get back together,

and the band still sticks together. I said it on stumps and bumps, which you can listen to right

after this on SCN, and just a bit of teaser for all WCW fans listening to us. It was like the

finger poke of Doom, where it felt like the NW was going to break up, but then, all Hulk

Ogan had to do was, you know, finger poke, Kevin Nash, and the NW was back together, nothing changed,

and that's what it feels like with this English team. Everybody's just kept their job, and we also

heard that the riff between Ben Stokes and Brendan McClemmas also resolved, and Ben Stokes is gone,

and put out a very strong Instagram post, where there's a lot of F and a lot of stars used after

it. So I mean, basically saying how much this means to him. So we wait and watch, and which also

means that when we are in England next year, Brendan McClemmas will still be coach, and he'll get

that opportunity to sign off and start, what happens with you now, and then we'll have to wait and see.

Well, well, assess, Bars, I like this quote from Rob K, and you and I spent endless hours talking

about team selection across the summer, didn't we? And what England were going to do, and what they

should do. He said, in terms of squad selection, we 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, but what happens then is that there's a lack of consequence really for

substandard performance. Certainly, they could be the perception as well, and that's one of the things

that we overplayed. We did it for a reason, but the pendulum has probably swung too far. So can we

expect, based on that, more changes in the future for this England team, when players aren't performing,

because they really, they picked and stick this summer, and it worked against them.

Ben Duck had been a great example of that, right? And then others as well, I mean, Zach Crowley

had a decent series, but he averaged his average average at the end of the day, at the end of

that Ashes series, even all the last three sessions as well. Oh, totally. Ollie Pope was

another great example, and I mentioned County cricket earlier. I mean, that's one thing they have

admitted, and which basically means the county season also starting, what, in 10 days time, or next

week sometime, suddenly, probably, you think that County cricket becomes relevant again, and

performers in County cricket will get a look in, because for a while there, for the last two or

three years, it felt like it didn't matter who was scoring what in County cricket. Selection

was like Jacob Bethel, yes, it worked out, but it was all based on women, why Ben, you know,

other words that starts with W and V that I'm not going to attempt. So it's, you know, it's late at

night, Tom. So it's, I think it probably says that yes, even though the, the top brass hasn't

changed, there will be a different outlook to not just how England play cricket, but who gets

a look in, and probably you don't have to be a certain way on end of the field to get selected,

which is what it has been like in the last few years. Yeah, the Brennan McCallum crossword

dies, might be done. Kate made it. The ultra relaxed approach was not a good call, so this is

another quote here. 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 set four months after Noosa and New Zealand and everything else happened. In some regards,

you take away the choice. Sometimes if they can't be trusted to make the right decision,

you take away that and you make it for them. That's, I mean, that just is a common sense to me.

Like, I can't believe it's taken them this long to come to that conclusion, but they,

the pendulum, as he spoke about, has just gone too far. And now they're trying to write those wrongs.

And really, even if they win in England in 2027, we won't truly know until they perform out here

next time, which is three and a half years away. So there's still a long way to go, Baz. Final

word on this, on this English decision, is it right or wrong? I just wish the parenting in my

householder. That's lenient. That is a fantastic final word, Baz. Baz, that makes two of us as

well. We are three deliveries into this four ball over to it's an old four ball over just like

it was in the 19th century on this day is coming up next. And boy, what an on this day it is.

We're here for Cobram Estate, Australia's most awarded extra virgin olive oil and Henley Holmes,

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04-33-988-11-610. This is the new ball with Tom Morris and Berat Sundaracing.