McCullum says English cricket is in a really good place after summer
England's white-ball coach Brendon McCullum backs the team after a turbulent summer: T20 No 1, two 50-over series wins, and new leadership pairs in place.
Brendon McCullum ended England's summer by calling it "eventful", then went further. "I genuinely feel right now, at the end of the summer, English cricket is certainly in a really good place," he said.
McCullum began the summer as England's men's all-format coach. He finishes it as white-ball coach, working again alongside Stephen Fleming.
The Independent sets out the record behind his words. In red-ball cricket England played 6 and lost 2. In T20 they rose to No 1 in the world, and they won two 50-over series. The paper notes that McCullum and captain Harry Brook now lead the white-ball side, and Fleming and Joe Root the red-ball side, each pairing with its own identity.
The Independent also says Pakistan and Sri Lanka were not top-class tourists. Pakistan lost the Lord's series to England, and the PCB then recalled nearly half its touring squad. Mike Hesson took over as interim head coach for the third Test after seven players were axed. Our match record for England against Sri Lanka on 27 September reads 355:132.
The paper describes the Tests against New Zealand as the point where England "rather burned the house down". Those matches are what the current foundation is being rebuilt from.
If the two leadership pairs hold, England go into next year with settled structures in both formats. Whether that survives stronger opponents than this summer's is still open.
Our prediction and match analysis cover the England–Sri Lanka game.
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Sources 1
- The clear priorities England must tackle after turbulent summer independent.co.uk