British media have begun to question the future of England coach Brendon McCullum following the team’s second-test Ashes defeat in Brisbane.
The Black Caps great still has another few seasons left on his contract with the England and Wales Cricket Board, up until the end of the current World Test Championship, but his job could be on the line.
Following the eight-wicket loss to Australia at the Gabba, McCullum was defiant when quizzed on England’s preparations.
“If anything, we trained too much. We had five intense training sessions leading into this game,” McCullum told the BBC.
“Sometimes, there is a tendency to overdo things to make up for it. As we all know in this game, it is played in the top two inches,” the coach said.
“We all have to find a way to ensure that we feel prepared physically, technically and we are ready for the battle, but also to make sure we are fresh and make sure we can make those decisions in the heat of the games.”
Here’s how the English media reacted to the second-test loss.
“Brendon McCullum said ‘3-2 has a nice ring to it’ the last time England were 2-0 down after two tests of an Ashes series and his team responded. If he is to mount a strong case for keeping his job, then history must repeat itself by England winning the third test in Adelaide like they did at Headingley in 2023,” Telegraph writer Nick Hoult said.
“The bare minimum for England is to win a ‘live’ Ashes test in Australia for the first time in 15 years. A consolation win in Melbourne when the Ashes are gone, or Sydney for the fifth test, would be a big failure for a team that is the strongest England have sent to Australia since 2010-11.
“England have made great progress under this management, who rejuvenated a team that had won just one in 17 tests, and it would be unwise to rip it all up. But lose in Adelaide and McCullum, who has a contract until 2027, will be under scrutiny for the first time and doubts will rise that he is the right man to take this team to the next level, after failing to beat India and Australia at home when they had the chance both times.”
“The Bazball empire is now at risk of capitulation. Pre-series, it felt like defeat in Australia would not necessarily necessitate change, depending on the manner of performance,” BBC chief cricket writer Stephan Shemilt said.
“Losing 3-2 after a decider in Sydney is vastly different to losing 3-2 after being 3-0 down. England could still win (yes, I know). They could also lose 5-0.
“Stokes and McCullum both have contracts until the end of the next home Ashes in 2027. Rob Key manages them both. England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Richard Gould and chairman Richard Thompson will take the temperature of public reaction – currently boiling hot.
“Beyond the management, there are careers and reputations of players on the line. One wonders what they are saying in the dressing room.
“Is there enough honesty and maturity to hold one another to account? Is there space in the Bazball groupthink to suggest there might be another way of doing things?
“In the aftermath of the Gabba defeat, the comments of Stokes and McCullum were as strong as they have been in their three-plus years in charge. The two alphas publicly questioning the mentality of the England team is something that could come back to haunt them later in the tour.”
“A bookmark moment for Ashes obituaries everywhere. The leader and co-founder of Bazball, alongside Ben Stokes, was hard on himself and the team, making light of a galling defeat that all but ends England’s hopes Downunder, falling to an eight-wicket loss. People had waited so long for this. The referendum on a new style of play, contested in a box-office series between cricket’s two oldest enemies. And after six days on the pitch – it’s all but done," Cameron Ponsonby of the Independent writes.
“People respond to setbacks differently. The point of this England team is to wear international cricket lightly while understanding its gravitas. A nigh-on impossible tightrope to navigate, but an admirable one, nonetheless. ‘Make sure the top two inches are right’ has become the group’s newest catchphrase. It makes sense. Cricket is a mentally gruelling game.
“But leadership lives in diplomacy as well. The ability to read a room. This is the leader of a team who, rightly or wrongly, has a reputation of the 11 men who like a beer and a round of golf with a side of cricket. A team that has already received criticism for only playing one warm-up fixture ahead of the tour and for skipping a two-day game in Canberra. Don’t say, after scheduling two extra days of training ahead of this test, that you had actually overprepared. People will laugh at you. The way this tour is going, jobs are on the line and things are hitting the fan, so keep people onside.
“McCullum and Stokes are bound at the hip. They stay on each other’s message, not through media training, but a genuine shared belief of how the game could be played, if only the rest of us could understand. Tonight, their message parted ways.”
“It was no irony that Australia were all out in their first innings on the stroke of 6pm. The sun was setting as the England openers walked out, and darkness had soon descended on their Ashes hopes. The only time a team have come back from 2-0 down to regain the urn was in 1936-37 and in those last three matches, someone called Don Bradman made scores of 270, 212 and 169. Bazball is all but broken,” Simon Hughes of the Times writes.
Former England captain Mike Atherton added in a column for the Times:
“You’ll hear a lot of theories for defeat over the next few days, but, in essence, the explanation is a simple one: to win test matches in Australia, you have to play tough, hard, disciplined cricket for long periods of time. England haven’t been able to do that. What will haunt them is the sense that they have not given themselves the best chance to do so,” Atherton wrote.
Cricket writer Simon Wilde added for the Times:
“Although [Ben] Stokes spoke at some length about his players, he himself cannot be excluded from the impact of what has happened over the past two weeks as England’s Ashes dream has been broken almost beyond repair. He has looked tactically lost at times, both during Australia’s lightning-fast run-chase in Perth and then in Australia’s first innings here – most unusually for one of the most inventive captains England have had.
“He is the figurehead of ‘Bazball’ and his legacy depends on a favourable outcome in the biggest series he has been involved in as a leader. He must be feeling the weight of the moment as much as anyone else. Little wonder he struck a slightly diminished figure. He will need this week’s mini-break in Noosa as much as anyone. His captaincy has always been an inclusive one and he has – until now – been someone whose first instinct was to put an arm round the shoulder. ‘Bazball’ has been a consequence-free game, but perhaps no more.”