England cricket chief Rob Key has thrown his support behind embattled coach Brendon McCullum, while making a key distinction surrounding criticism of the team’s preparation for the Ashes.
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Having lost the Ashes in just 11 days, the post-mortem has already begun for an England team that had a valuable opportunity to at least make this year’s series competitive against an understrength Australian team.
Instead, even without Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins (for the first Test), Australia largely cruised to a 3-0 series lead and now have their sights squarely on a whitewash.
England, on the other hand, will be looking to restore pride but questions are being asked of the team’s leadership, especially after claims their Noosa getaway resembled a “stag do”.
Key said he would investigate the mid-Ashes break, along with footage that appeared to show opening batter Ben Duckett drunk, but for now it sounds like head coach McCullum is safe.
Sir Geoffrey Boycott wrote in a column for The Telegraph UK that McCullum “must go” after the “Ashes debacle” and while a series whitewash could undoubtedly change things, Key stressed that he is still behind the under-fire coach.
“Brendon is an outstanding coach,” Key told the Sky Sports Cricket podcast.
“A lot of this is our fault. It has always been about putting bowlers under pressure, soaking up pressure, but we have not done that well enough, whether against India in the summer or now.
“Brendon’s record as a coach is excellent. When you compare him to other coaches, we haven’t won the big series, but will we have to evolve, adapt, change and become better at all these things we are talking about? Of course we will.
“Do I think he’s the man to do that? If he’s as prepared as I am to do it, he is the right man. Brendon is a resilient character. There is nothing I’ve seen from him that suggests he doesn’t want to.”
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To illustrate his point, Key said there were no fractures inside the England dressing room and credited that to McCullum’s leadership.
“When you get these tours, when you’re losing in Australia in an Ashes series, half the team don’t like the captain and the other half don’t like the coach – that’s not happening at all on this trip,’ he said.
“They have kept the players together remarkably well considering everything that has gone on. But will we have to evolve? Absolutely.”
McCullum’s predecessor, Chris Silverwood, did not survive a 4-0 defeat four years ago and Key later conceded that an Ashes whitewash would likely leave the English Cricket Board with no choice but the undergo a complete review, which he added would put everyone — including himself — under scrutiny.
One of the more contentious aspects of this Ashes series had been England’s preparation and Key acknowledged some self-reflection was necessary there, although that came with one key distinction.
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“There is a difference between planning and getting it wrong,” Key said.
“The idea that we didn’t care about preparation is not true. Clearly it didn’t work, so it’s hard to argue it was right, but I’ll explain the reasons.
“We had a T20 and white‑ball series in New Zealand, and it was very important that everyone knew what team this was, what we were about, how we prepared – that nothing was different and we would prepare just as we would anywhere. But it didn’t work.
“We went to Lilac Hill knowing the conditions weren’t going to replicate what we’d face, but there is nowhere other than the WACA or Optus Stadium that can replicate those conditions. That was the thinking behind it. We felt it would be sufficient to be ready for that Test match, but it didn’t work.”
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