Published On 24 Mar 202624 Mar 2026<\/p>\n
Brendon McCullum will \u2060continue as England\u2019s head coach \u2060in all three formats, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has said, despite the team\u2019s lacklustre performances and lingering questions about their dressing-room culture.<\/p>\n
Ben Stokes will remain as Test captain with Harry Brook as his vice-captain, and \u2060Rob Key will stay as managing director of England\u2019s men\u2019s cricket, the ECB said on Monday, following a review centred around a humbling Ashes series.<\/p>\n
England suffered a 4-1 defeat in Australia this year, and the criticism included their casual preparations for the marquee Test series.<\/p>\n
Led by Brook, whose altercation with a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand last year continues to be a distraction, England lost to eventual champions India \u2060in the semifinals of the Twenty20 World Cup this month.<\/p>\n
All-rounder Liam Livingstone has also criticised the team culture, saying the current regime does not care about players outside the core group.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen the driving ambition and determination that we\u2019re lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from \u200cthe Ashes and move forward,\u201d ECB chief executive Richard Gould told the BBC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are all individuals that have got other things that they can do in their lives. They are all committed to doing the best for England and to learning the lessons that are evident.\u201d<\/p>\n
British media have also reported that former New Zealand captain McCullum\u2019s bond with Test captain Stokes had frayed during the Ashes series, though the duo have publicly backed each other.<\/p>\n
McCullum is contracted to oversee the team until the end of the 50-over World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia next year. England host New Zealand for a three-Test series in June before \u2060eight limited-overs matches at home to India.<\/p>\n
Stokes said the last three months had been his hardest as \u2060England captain, but he was confident the leadership group would take the team forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cBaz [McCullum], 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 \u2060failure than success,\u201d he posted on social media.<\/p>\n
Stokes reckons the past three months have been the \u201chardest period\u201d of his time as England captain, but is determined that the current leadership group can oversee a revival in the Test team\u2019s fortunes.<\/p>\n
Key denied suggestions that Stokes and McCullum had fallen out in Australia, despite the pair offering contrasting messages during a disappointing series loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing England captain is the greatest honour a player can be given and I do not take it for granted,\u201d Stokes wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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\u2019s the only thing in your life at times.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last 3 months has without a doubt been the hardest period of my captaincy journey, it\u2019s tested me in so many different ways and I\u2019m sure every other captain has gone through this as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stokes has not played since suffering a groin injury in the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney in January, but is set to feature for Durham in the County Championship in advance of this season\u2019s home Test programme.<\/p>\n
\u2018Bazball\u2019 here to stay<\/p>\n
Key, whose position had also come under scrutiny, told Sky Sports on Monday that McCullum was the best man to lead England.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, it\u2019s about who do the \u2060players, who do we think can take English cricket forward? Who\u2019s the one that \u2060can get the best out of the best players in this country? And for me, that\u2019s Brendon McCullum,\u201d Key said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been some really, really good stuff done. You know, it was a winter that did not go well, which would be an understatement, but that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re bad leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if McCullum needed to abort the \u200cultra-aggressive, front-foot style known as Bazball after it was found wanting in the Ashes and at home to India last year, Key said it was more a matter of evolution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no point in keeping Brendon McCullum if you want him to completely change and become \u200csomeone \u200celse,\u201d Key said. \u201cIf you lose authenticity as a coach, captain, [or] leader in any business, you\u2019re done. Brendon has not done that, and I don\u2019t want him to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published On 24 Mar 202624 Mar 2026 Brendon McCullum will \u2060continue as England\u2019s head coach \u2060in all three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,591,50,217,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-492634","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-cricket","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-sport","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}