{"id":796239,"date":"2026-07-12T21:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T21:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/796239\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T21:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T21:35:10","slug":"brendon-mccullum-sacked-cricket-news-2026-england-test-coach-after-ben-stokes-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/796239\/","title":{"rendered":"Brendon McCullum sacked, cricket news 2026, England Test coach after Ben Stokes retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brendon McCullum<\/a> has been fired as coach of England<\/a>\u2019s Test cricket<\/a> team after four years in charge but will continue to lead the country\u2019s T20 and ODI sides.<\/p>\n

The England and Wales Cricket Board announced that McCullum \u201cwill stand down\u201d, with the New Zealander saying in the ECB statement he was \u201cgutted not to be continuing\u201d with the Test team \u2014 suggesting it was a decision taken by those above him.<\/p>\n

\"England<\/p>\n

England coach Brendon McCullum speaks to his team in the huddle.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I respect the decision,\u201d McCullum added.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy focus now is on giving everything I\u2019ve got to the white-ball teams and helping England keep moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The announcement came two weeks after England\u2019s series loss to New Zealand \u2014 its first loss at home in a series of three Tests or more since 2012.<\/p>\n

That came on the heels of a 4-1 Ashes<\/a> series loss Down Under in which the England team came under scrutiny for its perceived lack of professionalism.<\/p>\n

Ben Stokes<\/a> quit international cricket after the New Zealand series<\/a> and now McCullum has gone, too, signaling the end of the so-called \u201cBazball\u201d era \u2014 an entertaining but often flawed period for Test cricket in England.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrendon breathed new life into England men\u2019s Test team during an exciting period which saw some amazing victories, and we\u2019re grateful for all he has given to the role,\u201d said Richard Gould, CEO of the ECB.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now believe that the time is right to make a change for the Test team as we target victory in the Ashes next summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ECB called the \u201cBazball\u201d era \u2014 when McCullum\u2019s team played aggressive, fearless cricket \u2014 one of the most \u201cexciting and progressive periods\u201d in England\u2019s Test-playing history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an absolute privilege to watch him shape the mentality of the team,\u201d ECB director Rob Key said, \u201cto one the players have loved, and see him develop a new generation of talent who will be at the heart of England men\u2019s teams for years to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe leaves the Test team well-set and poised to achieve great things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum during the Ashes tour.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

McCullum said there had been \u201csome unbelievable highs and a few tough days along the way, but that\u2019s all part of taking on a challenge like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish the test team nothing but success,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a hell of a lot of talent in that dressing room and they\u2019re a special bunch of lads. I\u2019ll always be backing the boys, with a smile on my face, and hoping they keep taking the game on. I know they\u2019ll continue to make people proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

England\u2019s next Test series is against Pakistan starting next month.<\/p>\n

McCullum has combined his white and red-ball roles since January 2025.<\/p>\n

England\u2019s T20 team has just thrashed India 4-0 in a home series to become the No.1-ranked side in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brendon McCullum has been fired as coach of England\u2019s Test cricket team after four years in charge but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":796240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-796239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}