Refering back to Steve's post, two things can be right at once:
- McCullum's leadership, especially with England, has been transformative.
- He provides a steady stream of quotes and actions that we can make fun of.
We on CW might lean moreso towards making fun of the latter, and yes cynical jokes are fun, though it does miss the point in a way. Of course McCullum's quotes shorn of context are going to sound trite and silly. And of course unapologetically boosting your side is going to sometimes come across as self-important and self-satisfied. All communication is imperfect. But looking at the whole picture, McCullum has found a way to build a culture, first attempted with NZ and perfected with England, that does enable their players to play with freedom and put aside fear of failure, but without a don't-care-at-all attitude that does lead to failure anyway. It's genuinely optimal play for most of their batsmen, under the guise of transforming team culture. That's catching lightning in a bottle, it's so rare in any kind of team environment imo. This will sicken TH to the core, but kudos to McCullum.
Coming back to NZ, yes some of our past success was due to players that have now retired, but honestly we have a very good team on paper right now too. I'm always a little reluctant to jump to conclusions about what's happening in a team environment, but there's enough visible in performance to say we're lacking something in culture/leadership/coaching. I disagree btw that it's because we're playing boring cricket now and weren't playing some attritional cricket when we were winning e.g. days of hard work by Wagner and co to dismiss an opposition for 350 on another home featherbed, before we score 500 and win. And our batting still includes plenty of very attacking shots (that we sometimes get out to), it's not pure stodge.
But we needed a new coach two years ago, that's clear enough imo, and it's notable that it's our senior players who are all performing at least 20% below their best, and that might be generous. That's where a new coach, a McCullum, or new leadership of any kind, could bring back the spark (another trite term, but you know what I mean). Make our players sharp where they're currently dulled, give context or purpose or freedom or whatever is missing. This really needs to happen now, as well, given the ages of 5 of the top 6 plus Matt Henry, not in 18-24 months when we are in full transition mode.
I don't really know how to end yet another NZ doom and gloom thread ok-worthy epistle, other than to say it's frustrating as hell to see what could/should still be a top-tier NZ team, if you could just add a couple more ingredients, instead slide thoroughly into mediocrity. Good luck to Latham as new captain and he's saying some of the right things, though expectations are low for this India tour tstl. Really all roads lead back to just this: Please give us a new and good coach, NZC. Thanks and see ya, Gary.
