The time has come for Brendon McCullum and Bazball to deliver for English cricket

By all accounts, Brendon McCullum is a gambler. He likes his horses and he likes a flutter. But he’s just never struck me as a poker player. Too straight down the line. What you see is what you get. Easy-going Kiwi who likes a beer. An open book. And definitely no bluffer.

That point was reinforced at the conclusion of England’s recent white-ball tour of India, when McCullum came out swinging following a volley of criticism he and his team had received for apparently not training enough during their stay.

Too much time spent on golf course they said, or Kevin Pietersen to be precise. KP let rip via X, saying he was ‘incredibly sad’ and ‘gobsmacked’ to hear England didn’t have one team practice session from losing the first ODI until leaving India. ‘Do me f*****g favour!’ he added in a later post.

Having watched a usually relaxed McCullum breeze through life since becoming England’s Test coach in May 2022, it was oddly refreshing to see him flustered, rattled even, and brimming with passion in response.

‘Totally incorrect’ a visibly frustrated McCullum bristled. ‘We've done lots of training. We have had injuries in the camp, so we've backed guys off a little bit to make sure we had a fit team.’

No bluff here, just a straight-talking McCullum making his stand.

To my mind, it was the first time in McCullum’s tenure we had seen that side of him. He was clearly frustrated in the aftermath of Jonny Bairstow’s controversial stumping at Lord’s in the 2023 Ashes, but even then, much of the talk was about whether the teams would be having a beer together at the end of the series.

So often, it’s feet up on the changing room balcony with sunglasses on, McCullum looking like a man without a care in the world. Most of the time he cuts the figure of someone on his summer holidays, not at work.

He could do no wrong to begin with. England were transformed overnight from a quivering, nervous wreck into a bold and brave cricket team that pummelled New Zealand and South Africa with a series of brutal batting displays. It was a magnificent summer. The perfect start. Bazball was born.

And there were greater highs to come. England’s subsequent 3-0 away win in Pakistan was surely one of the greatest achievements for an English cricket team in recent history and at that point, it seemed the sky was the limit.

But more recently, the gloss has stated to wear off and I’ve often wondered where it all ends. Does McCullum really have what it takes to push England to the next level, to compete with Australia and India?

McCullum and Bazball has felt like a summer fling: sexy and exhilarating, but not made to last.

Not winning that home Ashes series in 2023 was an opportunity missed and Australia returned home with the urn. Next came India away, England coming up short against another top side, losing the series 4-1.

Conditions were challenging for batting on that tour, as they were before Christmas in Pakistan when England were again shown up against spin. Sadly, this is the same movie on repeat.

There can be no doubting that McCullum was the right appointment at the right time. He was just what English cricket needed and the performances on the field proved that point – but when tested more recently his team, especially with the bat, have come up short.

That defeat in Pakistan confirmed they have gone backwards, and I'm struggling to think of a single batsman who has improved under McCullum's tutelage. Against moderate opposition, this team has excelled, and done so with style and panache, but not very often against high-class opposition when the ball has been on top.

Is someone like Ollie Pope a better player of spin now than when McCullum took over as head coach? Or even a better player altogether? He averaged 11.00 in three Test in Pakistan with a top score of 29. More than numbers, he looked frenetic and lacked trust in his defence.

And what about Zak Crawley, who now averages a modest 30.51 after 53 Tests? Crawley did a little better in Pakistan, but he had no impact in New Zealand and for all the public support and backing he has received from his coach, the overall returns remain modest.

Finding life tough in foreign conditions, particularly the subcontinent, is no crime, but the lack of improvement in that area is. Pope hasn't improved against spin, neither has Crawley, and you don't have to watch coverage of England matches for very long to hear pundits criticise the batting when the ball spins or swings.

It feels like the initial wave of enthusiasm around McCullum is now starting to dissipate, with results becoming the most important currency. Against the very best, people are beginning to rightly point out that McCullum's England must do better.

So now, McCullum has returned to the table, cards in hand, chips at the ready. And he is going all in.

Initially, McCullum was installed at Test coach, and Matthew Mott put in charge of the limited-overs teams, but when the latter was relieved of his duties following a poor World Cup defence in 2023, there was a change of heart from all parties and McCullum given total control over all formats.

I found this a strange move in many ways, but maybe it tells us much about McCullum's mindset. It was a complete shift from everything we had previously heard from the England management and McCullum himself about both jobs being too big for one man. McCullum, it seems, felt change was needed if the England cricket team was going to reach the top.

Perhaps, too, this was a realisation that both the performances and results of the Test team haven’t been up to scratch in the biggest series, and that having overall control might make it possible for him change that, and indeed the fortunes of all three sides. The three formats, he now feels, are inextricably linked.

Make no mistake, this is a gamble for McCullum on a personal level. England’s white-ball sides have been in free-fall since Eoin Morgan’s retirement, and that woeful World Cup is proof of that. The recent tour of India didn’t really offer much encouragement for England’s upcoming Champions Trophy prospects, either.

But what it again highlighted was that McCullum’s team, and his players, just don’t appear to be improving. Clearly, it's early days for him as the limited-overs coach, but England’s play against spin in the T20I and ODI series in India was very poor and it got worse as the tour went on. It was the Pakistan tour on repeat, just in different coloured clothing.

Harry Brook is a brilliant young batsman, but as soon as the ball started to spin in Pakistan, he was found wanting. And it was just the same in India. Like Pope and Crawley, Brook has hit a roadblock and at the moment, he appears unable to overcome it.

McCullum has always made a big thing about not being a ‘technique coach’ and if that works for him, fine. But if not he, then who else is tasked with improving England’s batting against spin? Is it Marcus Trescothick? Or Paul Collingwood, even, another long-standing member of McCullum’s backroom team? Regardless of the finer details, right now it isn't working.

McCullum needs to start putting that right, be it changing the make-up of his backroom staff and recruiting a batting coach who knows how to play spin well, or taking some control and accountability himself.

In taking on the role of head coach of the white-ball teams, he has burdened himself with an incredibly tough task – winning an ICC event in the subcontinent with a team low on confidence and seemingly in decline.

A poor tournament for England would suddenly shine the spotlight on the Kiwi coach like never before, all that before a Test summer at home which sees his side welcome India. After that it's Australia away in the Ashes. When England bombed in the World Cup, it was Mott who took the flak and McCullum’s stock rose even while he rested up back in New Zealand. Not anymore.

If things go wrong in the next few weeks, it’s hard to see McCullum lasting another 12 months. But if England perform well and he can revive their limited-overs cricket, before somehow winning back the Ashes – he’ll go down in folklore as one of England’s greatest. We are talking the stuff of legend.

And we can’t say McCullum doesn’t have a good hand in many respects. The ECB has vast amounts of money to throw at the national side, even more so nowadays, and that has meant Key has been able to tie down many of England’s biggest stars to long-term contacts that ensure England is the priority. Not all countries and their coaches have that luxury.

He has an immensely talented group of players to work with, too, across formats. Someone like Brook has the world at his feet and it would be a failure, and a serious one at that, were he not given the support he needs to become one of the best of his generation.

Thanks to the strength of England’s central contracts, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood have been nursed back to full health and will form the fastest opening bowling pair at the Champions Trophy. Jos Buttler is another who has been given time and space to get himself back to full fitness following injury. And looking ahead to the Test summer, Stokes will be given every help to recover from his own latest injury setback.

This is a good gig, whichever way you look at it. But the honeymoon period is over and this next year is a huge one for English cricket and its coach. And his snappy retort to Pietersen suggests McCullum knows it, too.

It’s McCullum’s team now, every inch of it, but with that comes great responsibility and ultimate accountability. He has chosen to put his neck on the chopping block, but it’s a gamble he felt he needed to take, one he believes will pay off.

Maybe behind that easy going, laid-back persona, and those big-framed sunglasses, is an entirely different personality. Maybe there’s more method to the Bazball madness than any of us have realised.

Maybe I haven’t given him enough credit. Maybe this has all been part of the grand plan. Maybe Bazball is so much more than a fling from the summer of 2022.

Maybe McCullum has been bluffing all along. We'll find out in the year ahead, cards on the table. England, and McCullum, are all in.