{"id":690471,"date":"2026-07-14T03:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T03:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/690471\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T03:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T03:56:12","slug":"i-can-only-say-sorry-sacked-england-coach-brendon-mccullum-apologises-to-fans-after-test-failures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/690471\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;I can only say sorry&#8217;: Sacked England coach Brendon McCullum apologises to fans after Test failures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph-text\">McCullum will remain in charge of the limited-overs set-up but was axed from the red-ball role he had held since 2022 after overseeing seven defeats in the last nine matches. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">The New Zealander was euphemistically said to have \u201cstood down\u201d in an official England and Wales Cricket Board statement released on Sunday, but was quick to admit that he had been pushed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">\u201cYeah, I got a tap on the shoulder,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">\u201cI was disappointed but at the same time I fully respect the decision. We\u2019re in a results business and fundamentally our results weren\u2019t good enough. It\u2019s time for someone else to have a go. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">\u201cWe didn\u2019t always get it right. For that, I put my hand up and say we weren\u2019t able to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">Read More: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lbc.co.uk\/news\/sport\/brendon-mccullum-cricket-england-sacked\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brendon McCullum sacked as England Test head coach<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">Read More: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lbc.co.uk\/news\/sport\/ben-stokes-retires-international-cricket\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">England captain Ben Stokes announces retirement from international cricket<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">A 2-1 defeat to New Zealand spelled the end of his Test tenure but he was already hanging by a thread in the aftermath of a chaotic 4-1 defeat in the Ashes over the winter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">That extended a poor record in the flagship contests against the other members of the so-called \u2018big three\u2019, losing away to Australia and India and drawing 2-2 against both on home soil.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">\u201cWe just weren\u2019t quite able to win those big series, against India and Australia, the two marquee series. We just weren\u2019t able to get the results and for that I guess I can only say sorry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">\u201cI was the leader of that group. I was in charge of the team culturally, in charge of the team tactically, in charge of the team results-wise as well. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">\u201cIf you don\u2019t get the results, being a results business, fundamentally you get replaced. I\u2019m not unaccustomed to that, I\u2019ve been around this game for 20-odd years and I know if you aren\u2019t getting the results, someone else needs an opportunity. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-text\">\u201cI put my hand up for that and accept it wasn\u2019t good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McCullum will remain in charge of the limited-overs set-up but was axed from the red-ball role he had&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":690472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-690471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690471","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=690471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}