Brendon McCullum announced as England's test coach

[thierry henry]

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.

I’m loathe to make a serious comment on this topic, but trying to analyse it somewhat seriously - haven’t England famously been ‘doing a McCullum’ since like 2015 anyway? Isn’t this just doubling down on the ‘be positive’ slog philosophy that led to the massive disparity between, in particular, their test and LO batting?

 

[Athlai]

I’m loathe to make a serious comment on this topic, but trying to analyse it somewhat seriously - haven’t England famously been ‘doing a McCullum’ since like 2015 anyway? Isn’t this just doubling down on the ‘be positive’ slog philosophy that led to the massive disparity between, in particular, their test and LO batting?

But now they've purchased the right to be aggressive.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

At least spell the bloke's name properly (see thread title).

 

[Fuller Pilch]

But now they've purchased the right to be aggressive.

You have to earn it before you can purchase it.

 

[social]

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).

Could potentially be very good mentor for the likes of Crawley & Pope but you can’t expect anyone to work miracles on guys with terrible technique like Burns

 

[SteveNZ]

I’m loathe to make a serious comment on this topic, but trying to analyse it somewhat seriously - haven’t England famously been ‘doing a McCullum’ since like 2015 anyway? Isn’t this just doubling down on the ‘be positive’ slog philosophy that led to the massive disparity between, in particular, their test and LO batting?

Yep, that's exactly right. You may have single-handledly swayed me back to 'this won't work at all' territory. I do, however, think he'll amend the whole big egos v the rest scenario that involves Anderson + Broad. There's no way he'll want to go forward without those two guys. Then it's up to their system to fix what is fundamentally broken, which is the batting techniques. Hopefully he has a good batting coach lined up, although he may still be fighting the system to make change.

 

[SteveNZ]

Could potentially be very good mentor for the likes of Crawley & Pope but you can’t expect anyone to work miracles on guys with terrible technique like Burns

Crawley particularly, Pope's technique has holes all over it, however. I can see him being very good for Crawley, Dan Lawrence, maybe even people like Buttler - he might go back to that well also.

 

[tooextracool]

The real question is whether team culture and lack of aggression are really what has been holding us back recently and, if so, whether Stokes appointment as captain does not already address those concerns?

I’d like to give McCullum the benefit of the doubt because all I’ve seen from him in this role is what he does for KKR at the IPL (where he literally chops and changes the side up on a day to day basis and has misused literally everyone on the side this year). On face value, it seems like a poor choice, more likely to overshadow the captain’s role and less likely to provide him with the tactical support that he desperately needs. But perhaps his body of work being so minimal is irrelevant and we should just wait to see how he does before judging him.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Yep, that's exactly right. You may have single-handledly swayed me back to 'this won't work at all' territory. I do, however, think he'll amend the whole big egos v the rest scenario that involves Anderson + Broad. There's no way he'll want to go forward without those two guys. Then it's up to their system to fix what is fundamentally broken, which is the batting techniques. Hopefully he has a good batting coach lined up, although he may still be fighting the system to make change.

I dunno I think it's win-win for McCullum. Things realistically can't get worse for England, his "impact" will be positive no matter what happens

 

[Starfighter]

You have to earn it before you can purchase it.

Since they can pony up the money, they clearly have earned it.

 

[SteveNZ]

I dunno I think it's win-win for McCullum. Things realistically can't get worse for England, his "impact" will be positive no matter what happens

Oh yeah, I don't think there's much to lose. But the obvious flaw is the top order batting, and that's going to take a lot more than a constant message of back yourselves, which was the greatest thing he instilled in our side. We had a vastly superior top order to England's. England's Ashes issues (and potentially Windies, I didn't watch) was probably the antithesis of McCullum - poor technique outside off stump and the inability to leave well enough to hide those flaws.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Big win for the PR division of BMac Inc.

 

[Athlai]

This will be good for Rossco's tell-all book sales in the UK

 

[Spark]

Oh yeah, I don't think there's much to lose. But the obvious flaw is the top order batting, and that's going to take a lot more than a constant message of back yourselves, which was the greatest thing he instilled in our side. We had a vastly superior top order to England's. England's Ashes issues (and potentially Windies, I didn't watch) was probably the antithesis of McCullum - poor technique outside off stump and the inability to leave well enough to hide those flaws.

I do think the passivity of England's top order has been a deep tactical issue for a while tbf. Also meant they haven't been able to get anywhere near as much out of the oodles of batting talent they've had in the last ten years - and yes, you can't tell me they didn't have it, LO and Test batting isn't that different skillset-wise. But the failures in that regard probably lie above where McCullum has any really decisive ability to fix.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Not sure an ultra aggressive player becoming coach when we have one as captain already is a good idea. We need to get back to basics and I don't think this is the pair to do that.

 

[ImpatientLime]

england tour threads to be 90% kiwi **** posting from now on

 

[Pothas]

I’m loathe to make a serious comment on this topic, but trying to analyse it somewhat seriously - haven’t England famously been ‘doing a McCullum’ since like 2015 anyway? Isn’t this just doubling down on the ‘be positive’ slog philosophy that led to the massive disparity between, in particular, their test and LO batting?

They gave up on that in Tests a while ago. Certainly by the time Silverwood was around it was about 'batting long' as if just declaring that was going to make it happen.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Was definitely surprised when I saw the headlines since he wasn't someone who'd been on anyone's radar as a possible candidate I don't think.

But having let it sink in a bit, I'm pretty happy with the call. Our Test team is in such a bad state right now that nobody is going to make us world beaters overnight. I have faith that at a minimum McCullum will get us to "doesn't feel like team is a complete, aimless shambles" level pretty quickly and that'd be a welcome improvement.

 

[TheBrand]

Hope they get rolled for 45 in the first test.

 

[jcas0167]

Kirsten might have been a good choice given England have previously done well with no-nonsense coaches like Fletcher and Flower. Still, I can understand the appeal of McCullum as the England hierarchy were impressed with the way the Black Caps played under him and Hesson. I imagine he would have a good rapport with Stokes too. You have to wonder how Warne would have gone as he had expressed an interest in the role too before his untimely demise.