With Ben Stokes now gone as captain, English cricket enters a new era. Yet it seems that both coach Brendon McCullum and director of cricket Rob Key will remain in their jobs.
This is despite England’s Test team winning just two of their past 10 matches – with those victories at Melbourne and Lord’s coming on pitches of such questionable quality that the outcome of both games were a lottery.
On top of all this, the defeat by New Zealand saw England lose their first home series of three or more Tests in 14 years. The last Test series win under McCullum came back in December 2024, in New Zealand.
Both the coach and Key, who were responsible for the team’s ludicrously inadequate Ashes preparation, should have been sacked after last winter’s 4-1 defeat in Australia.
Coach Brendon McCullum, managing director Rob Key, National Selector Luke Wright and captain Ben Stokes during the Ashes in Perth Photo: Getty)
