Brendon McCullum has apologised to England cricket fans after admitting his Test team “weren’t adequate” following his dismissal as red-ball head coach.
McCullum will remain in control of the limited-overs set-up but was axed from the red-ball role he had held since 2022 after overseeing seven defeats within the last nine matches.
The Recent Zealander was euphemistically said to have “stood down” in an official England and Wales Cricket Board statement released on Sunday, but was quick to confess that he had been pushed.
“Yeah, I got a faucet on the shoulder,” he said.
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PICTURE: David Davies/PA
Dissatisfied
“I used to be disenchanted but at the identical time I fully respect the choice.
“We’re in a results business and fundamentally our results weren’t adequate. It’s time for another person to have a go.
“We didn’t at all times get it right. For that, I put my hand up and say we weren’t in a position to get there.”
A 2-1 defeat to Recent Zealand spelled the tip of his Test tenure but he was already hanging by a thread within the aftermath of a chaotic 4-1 defeat within the Ashes over the winter.
That prolonged a poor record within the flagship contests against the opposite members of the so-called ‘big three’, losing away to Australia and India and drawing 2-2 against each on home soil.
PICTURE: Jacob King/PA
Sorry
“We just weren’t quite in a position to win those big series, against India and Australia, the 2 marquee series,” he said.
“We just weren’t in a position to get the outcomes and for that I assume I can only ask for forgiveness.
“I used to be the leader of that group. I used to be in control of the team culturally, in control of the team tactically, in control of the team results-wise as well.
“If you happen to don’t get the outcomes, being a results business, fundamentally you get replaced.
“I’m not unaccustomed to that, I’ve been around this game for 20-odd years and I do know if you happen to aren’t getting the outcomes, another person needs a possibility.
“I put my hand up for that and accept it wasn’t adequate.”
PICTURE: Robbie Stephenson/PA
Fresh headache
McCullum was speaking at Edgbaston, fresh from a 4-0 win over India within the Vitality T20 series and on the eve of a three-match ODI leg.
The footprint of his job may have contracted considerably but for managing director Rob Key the thorny issue of balancing a split coaching set-up will provide a fresh headache.
England have been down that road twice before – Andy Flower and Ashley Giles butting heads over player availability from 2012-14, while McCullum’s star power nudged Matthew Mott right into a clearly junior role once they began together 4 years ago.
Flower, a three-time Ashes winner who led England to primary within the Test rankings in his previous reign, has been positioned as an early favourite, with the likes of Richard Dawson, Jonathan Trott, Justin Langer and the newly available Stephen Fleming also interesting possibilities.
PICTURE: Robbie Stephenson/PA
Romantic
“Once the brand new coach comes into play we are going to sit down and unpick loads of these items,” McCullum said of the twin approach.
“You’ve got different staff, players, schedules are different, obviously captaincy discussions, nevertheless it’s about what is correct for English cricket.
“I’m sure that might be a collaborative process. I also wish the brand new Test coach all one of the best.”
McCullum told BBC Sport there was a poetic element to the timing of his departure, lower than two weeks since his former captain’s dramatic Trent Bridge farewell.
“I got some nice messages from Stokesy, actually. I assume, in a romantic form of way there’s something about Stokesy and me going out together,” he said.
“We began it together and we exit together, and I actually have no problem with that.”
READ MORE: Brendon McCullum sacked as England Test coach but stays in control of white-ball set-up
