I am not surprised to hear Brendon McCullum has left the job as Test coach. The team have gone backwards. They are high on entertainment but low on winning. That cannot go on.
Their high-risk game is geared to T20 cricket, not Tests. It failed home and away against India and Australia. It is time to move on.
Andy Flower is the standout candidate for me. I think we would all breathe a sigh of relief if he were appointed quickly.
He is very disciplined, knows how to manage modern players and plays smart cricket. He is a winner and demands high standards. The complication for Flower is that he is in charge of the London Spirit and the Hundred does not finish until four days before the Pakistan Test series starts on August 19. Perhaps we sacrifice proper preparation for the first Pakistan Test to get him in the role for the long-term benefit.
The best English coach is Richard Dawson, but this is about appointing the best person for the job, not just looking at their nationality. I have no issues with a foreign Test coach.
England need someone who is going to break the chummy atmosphere in the dressing room. For too long it has been about style not substance. Brendon was very popular with the players because he gave them freedom and promoted a relaxed environment.
Now is the time to have someone who is not friendly with players on a day-to-day basis. Does the coach have to be mates with the players? Not in my opinion.
Look at Thomas Tuchel, the England football manager. He is there to get the team winning. If he upsets one or two players or doesn’t pick certain talented guys for a World Cup because he demands a team ethic, then fine. The Test team needs a bit of that now. Tuchel’s comments after the Norway game that England were “lucky” and had not played well peeved Jude Bellingham. I bet he goes out to prove the manager wrong in the next game. Nothing wrong with that.
England are far too talented to have a Test team who were bowled out in under 80 overs in the first innings, as they were at Lord’s against New Zealand. Batting is the problem. As far as bowling is concerned, the question is whether we are right to concentrate on air speed when everyone else is going with 80mph wobble-seam and skill.
I have respect for Rob Key taking on the director of cricket role and he is a good guy. But he appointed Brendon as Test coach, then sacked Matthew Mott – the white-ball coach – despite winning a World Cup and gave McCullum both jobs.
I find it hard to think Rob is going to be in charge of appointing another coach and have another crack at getting it right. He has had a lot of chances.
Also, the dynamic between the two coaches will be fascinating. When “Baz” was Test coach the players would complain about the much more disciplined environment under Mott in the white-ball side. Baz did not hold team meetings and they would be annoyed by Mott doing so. Will that now be reversed? Will the white-ball players who are also in the Test side resent a disciplinarian because they want to go back to their old ways and have a laugh with Baz? It is messy and it would have made more sense to have a clean break. It all sniffs of another shambles waiting to happen.
It is not going to be easy for the next Test coach. We are nine games away from the Ashes in 2027 and we do not have a captain or an all-rounder. The next coach will have to decide on the captain. If that is Harry Brook then it is a lot to ask him to lead both white and red-ball teams with an Ashes next summer followed by a 50-over World Cup.
The one thing with McCullum and the Test team is that I have enjoyed the ride. I don’t want to go down the avenue of dull cricket. I want England to play exciting cricket when they can, but also be smart. That is what they have lacked – smartness at the right times against better teams when the pressure is on.
They should have won the Ashes in 2023. They should have won the first Test in that series at Edgbaston but threw it away. They took a one-nil series lead in the 2024 tour of India but again were not smart enough and lost 4-1. Day two of the first Ashes Test in Perth last November could have been a different story had they been a bit cleverer. They never judged situations. It was all about playing one way, having fun and it cost them badly.