Brendon McCullum announced as England's test coach

[Aritro]

Brendon McCullum named England's new Test coach

KKR coach will stand down from IPL role at end of season after signing a four-year deal

www.espncricinfo.com

Interesting snippet:

Rob Key, England's director of men's cricket, acknowledged that McCullum's appointment was a calculated gamble, adding that it was "time for us all to buckle up and get ready for the ride", but praised his proven ability to change team cultures for the better - an attribute sorely needed after a grim 12 months for England's Test team, in which they have won one of their last 17 Tests and sunk to their lowest ICC ranking since 1995.

Also this:

In particular, it was felt that his vision for the Test team was in alignment with that of the new captain Stokes, who last week called for "selfless" cricketers to help revive the team's fortunes, after being unveiled as the successor to Joe Root, who stood down last month after a record 64 Tests in charge.

He has no red ball coaching experience, seems to have won a CPL title with the Trinbago Hasselhoffs, and is currently struggling with their sister franchise in Kolkata (I don't follow it, I'm just going off one disparaging response in a comments section).

Well good luck to Baz and the Poms. With someone as cavalier as him working in tandem with a violent thug, it will surely not be boring.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Well, it's a ballsy call, gotta give that to Fat Bob.

I like the cut of McCullum's jib, and the fact he's giving up a (doubtlessly very lucrative) IPL gig that only occupies him for a maximum of a couple of months each year to take the reins of a pretty ****ing thankless full time job shows moral fibre, but still would've preferred someone with a bit more experience, personally.

 

[cnerd123]

Terrible appointment, but tbf the position is kind of a poisoned chalice. I can see why any coach with a reputation to maintain would stay way from it. Nothing they can do in the short to medium term will fix England's problems. I presume the ECB didn't have many choice, so why not take a punt on someone unproven but who says the right things. At best he fixes up the team culture, at worse he's easily discarded.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

McCullum is very much a bookman kinda coach...probably uses cricket's version of Sabermetrics excessively

 

[jayjay]

Bmac the ODI coach may have made sense but this seems crazy.

Anyway, it's not all down to the coach. England need to select and produce for the future while strengthening their home record.

 

[Heboric]

I thought Gary Kirsten might have a shot, oh well #notenoughintent #newstyleofplay

 

[SteveNZ]

McCullum isn't a lot of things being mentioned here, incidentally. He's certainly not cavalier, he is a very intelligent cricket mind who is thorough and professional in what he does. The fact he's taking this job - when he has a young family, will be away for long stretches and certainly doesn't need the money - suggests he's got a burning desire to achieve as a coach.

It's a pretty massive indication (albeit by Rob Key who seems a bit of a maverick) that England believe their Test side is so ****ed that they may as well throw caution to the wind with someone who doesn't have the experience, but was an integral part of moving us from the arse end of the Test world and our nadir in 2012 (42 all out in SA) to eventual world #1. I like it as a move for England, Gary Kirsten might be more credentialled but when you have a guy like McCullum on the candidate list - and he may never reapply if you don't pursue him - I reckon when you're so broken as England, you take the risk for the higher reward. Unless Kirsten is a technical mastermind.

Having said that, I don't expect McCullum to 'succeed' as England coach and I hope they don't either. As someone said, the best you're probably going to get is a better team culture, a move away from the stuffy England approach and ideally the desire instilled to do better than losing series' against West Indies etc. He isn't going to fix the poor techniques ingrained in their top order in any hurry. The side he built in NZ was based on guys with very good techniques - Taylor, himself, Williamson, Latham, Nicholls less so etc.

As an NZ fan, it does feel a bit strange...but hopefully it is a lead-in to working with us in the future.

 

[Gnske]

Oh no, now England batsmen are going to have to buy aggression licences off their head coach.

This is a good thing.

 

[nzfan]

Probably a good move, looks like McCullum's IPL coaching was not going as well as he'd like. There has been recent reports he's not not in a good camp with the KKR Establishment and their captain. Right time to move on and a good move from him.

 

[Beamer]

I think it's a really good appointment tbh. A good cultural fit with Stokes and something different, which they definitely need.

I'm looking forward to seeing how they develop.

 

[Pothas]

I have convinced myself that this is a great idea.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Good for him to get experience coaching a lesser side overseas to gain experience if he later wants to coach NZ. The same thing happened with rugby with NZers Graham Henry and Steve Hansen coaching Wales before coaching the All Blacks.

 

[Flem274*]

Yeah I'm concerned. Even if he just implements his insane standards of commitment and professionalism, England will drastically improve. Hopefully they sook because it's too hard and player power him out but his other great trait is he is very good at unifying and focusing ****y young men on a common goal (average age of our side when he took over captaincy was like 12).

 

[Athlai]

Ben Stokes captain incoming

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Yeah. As much as I'd like to think this is going to be a bad appointment, I think he'll go pretty well - as long as he's given the scope he needs to make the changes he thinks necessary. It'll be interesting to see whether his ethos as a coach as the same/similar as that as Captain and where the differences are.

 

[thierry henry]

I thought picking ACTUAL BEN STOKES as the captain of the England cricket team in real life was the absolute peak of this meme. Now BARRIE MAXIMUMS is the coach. You couldn't write this script. Satan himself wouldn't pair these two.

What role is LITERALLY ADOLF HITLER going to play in the set-up btw?

 

[SteveNZ]

Oh no, now England batsmen are going to have to buy aggression licences off their head coach.

This is a good thing.

Haha, England batsmen have gone nowhere near earning the right. That's a long road ahead for their top order to even think about playing anything that isn't a massive full bunger (Root aside, obviously).

 

[Flem274*]

I thought picking ACTUAL BEN STOKES as the captain of the England cricket team in real life was the absolute peak of this meme. Now BARRIE MAXIMUMS is the coach. You couldn't write this script. Satan himself wouldn't pair these two.

What role is LITERALLY ADOLF HITLER going to play in the set-up btw?

They haven't offered me a job yet. Wouldn't mind being overpaid tbh.

 

[thierry henry]

I think it's a really good appointment tbh. A good cultural fit with Stokes and something different, which they definitely need.

I'm looking forward to seeing how they develop.

"A cultural fit with Stokes" that's the quote of the century

 

[SteveNZ]

I thought picking ACTUAL BEN STOKES as the captain of the England cricket team in real life was the absolute peak of this meme. Now BARRIE MAXIMUMS is the coach. You couldn't write this script. Satan himself wouldn't pair these two.

What role is LITERALLY ADOLF HITLER going to play in the set-up btw?

You have to admit, it's exciting. It's either going to end up as the greatest **** up of all time, or something down the other end of the impact scale (not right down, England wouldn't win an Ashes even if Aladdin granted them to them) but something will happen, and it'll be popcorn-worthy. I think it'll be more towards the successful scale, but who knows.

I'm intrigued. No I'm beyond intrigued, I'm titilated. I'm captivated. I'm all the vateds that involve genuine excitement.