Brendon McCullum admitted England “clearly need to improve” in one-day cricket after a bruising 3-0 loss to New Zealand, but the head coach insists lessons can be absorbed before the squad lands in Perth later this month.
England never truly settled. Across the three games they were bowled out each time, losing 11 wickets in the opening ten overs; New Zealand, by contrast, surrendered just four. The final match in Wellington lasted 40.2 overs for the tourists, their longest effort of the trip, but still ended 70 runs short.
“Go harder” has been the side’s shorthand since Ben Stokes’ retirement, Harry Brook urging team-mates to keep pressing after an initial wobble in Mount Maunganui. Two more collapses later McCullum feels the throttle needs a little moderation.
“Harry’s said before that we need to put pressure back on the bowlers, and there are times when we do need to be a little braver and put some pressure on the bowlers,” he explained in Wellington. “And then there are other times where we’ve got to adjust to their lengths and lines.
“Not necessarily in a high-risk sort of way but just by being brave enough – whether that’s coming down the wicket or moving around the crease – just get things going a little bit more and bounce off one another.”
The stark statistic is 84 runs. That is all England’s top four combined managed across the series, the lowest return in men’s ODI history. Joe Root, Brook and Jos Buttler were the only members of the top six to pass 20 at any point, and even then none reached 40.
McCullum accepts the data but refused to lump it in with England’s broader red- and white-ball work. “I like to separate it,” he said. “I think in T20 cricket we’re going really well and in Test cricket we have a pretty decent idea of where we’re at – and I think we’ve performed reasonably well, albeit we have a huge challenge ahead of us.
“One-day cricket is clearly the area we need to improve, and my comments are more directed at one-day cricket. I think when we do come across the trickier conditions in Australia and Test cricket, we have a pretty good understanding of how we’re going to go about it. It doesn’t guarantee us anything but it gives us a level of confidence going into that series.”
The coach believes conditions played a significant role in New Zealand. “I think when we’re confronted with good, flat wickets, we’re a very, very good cricket team,” he said. “I think we play a high-octane style of cricket and those conditions suit us. When the wickets have a little bit in them and they’re a bit more challenging, whether that be spin or seam or swing, we probably can’t quite adapt our tempo quick enough.
“We’ve got some talented players but, unfortunately, our performances at the moment in this form of the game aren’t quite up to scratch and we need to rectify that.”
Fast bowling coach Andre Adams, who spent a decade playing in New Zealand, echoed those thoughts off microphone: England’s seamers, he argued, “earned enough chances to win one match if the batting clicked, maybe two,” but the batting never caught up.
Former England opener Mark Butcher, covering the series on radio, felt McCullum’s call for middle-ground aggression is overdue: “Nothing wrong with positive intent, but there’s also nothing wrong with batting 50 overs first.”
Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett and Root faced most deliveries in Wellington and looked more settled, if still short of runs. McCullum suspects that exposure will matter. He reckons the trio, plus Brook, will be “better for the run” once they arrive in Australia.
England fly to Perth next week for a three-day lead-up before the first Test. McCullum says the mood, while sombre, is not panicked: “We’ve been out-played. Fair enough. But no excuses come Australia. We either adapt or we’ll get found out again.”
