England have gone 2-0 down in the Ashes, runs have been thin on the ground and the noise around the side is getting louder by the day, yet head coach Brendon McCullum is not for turning. Speaking in Adelaide on Sunday, the former New Zealand captain made it clear the same seven batters who started in Perth and Brisbane will walk out again at Adelaide Oval later this week.
“I wouldn’t have thought so,” McCullum said when asked if a reshuffle was on the cards. “From our point of view, we’ve had a top seven now for a period of time and we’ve been reasonably successful with it. These conditions should suit the style of batters that we’ve got as well. We know we haven’t got enough runs so far in this series. We’ve been in positions where we could have and made some mistakes, and that can happen at times.
“But for us to go on and win this series, it’s not about throwing out what has been successful for us over the last few years. It’s about having more conviction. It’s about making sure we have our plans and our disciplines around it just screwed down a touch more; making sure when we walk out there, we have utter belief in what we are capable of achieving.
“Knee-jerk reactions, and chopping and changing settled batting line-ups, is not really our way.”
The numbers are grim. England have been dismissed for 172, 164, 334 and 241 so far, with only Joe Root averaging north of 30. Ollie Pope and debutant keeper-batter Jamie Smith have come under scrutiny, while Jacob Bethell is waiting in the wings. Even so, McCullum’s message is plain: trust the process.
Behind the scenes, changes are more likely with the ball. Josh Tongue’s extra pace offers a point of difference and the seamers have carried a heavy load in two Tests dominated by Australia’s quicks. The spinning slot is also open. Ben Stokes called Shoaib Bashir England’s “best, number one spinner” last week, yet Will Jacks chipped in with an all-round performance in Brisbane that may keep him in the XI. A decision is due after the final training session.
McCullum fronted the media, he said, to “protect my players” from the fallout. Speculation about his own position has surfaced after back-to-back heavy defeats, but he shrugged it off. “It doesn’t really bother me,” he noted, preferring to focus on what England can still salvage from a tricky tour.
The coach conceded the side must “recalibrate” certain parts of their game plan. Translation: score more runs without losing the attacking intent that has defined his tenure. The danger, he warned, is abandoning that approach and slipping into a downward spiral.
“We came with high hopes, and at the moment we are not living up to it,” he admitted, before adding that a single win could flip the series narrative. England have overturned poor starts before under the current regime; they did it in New Zealand and in the 2023 home Ashes, so the belief is not entirely fanciful.
Conditions in Adelaide traditionally offer slower, lower bounce than Perth or Brisbane, plus a pink ball under lights that can assist both swing and seam. McCullum, a veteran of 101 Tests, feels the surface should suit a stroke-playing side looking to bat longer and cash in later.
What happens next depends on whether the top order can convert starts into something substantial. The basics are well known: leave well, play straight, and cash in when set. For all the talk of “Bazball”, that remains the heart of Test batting, and England have not done it consistently on this trip.
A third defeat would ensure Australia retain the urn with two matches to spare. A win, though, drags the contest back to 2-1 and funnels the pressure straight back on the hosts. Somewhere in between is a draw that does little for anyone.
There is little appetite in the camp for doomsday predictions. As McCullum put it in closing, echoing a mantra that has served England well over the past 18 months: stick to what you do best, trust your mates, and let the score look after itself.
A simple plan, yet never easy in Australia.
