Richard Gould insists England must plan further ahead if they are to regain the upper hand against Australia and India, calling those contests “significant priorities” for the men’s Test side.
Key facts first
• England last beat either side in a Test series in 2018.
• A 4-1 Ashes defeat in Australia this winter prompted review but no change in leadership; Rob Key, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes all stay on.
• The ECB is working on longer preparation windows, including a memorandum of understanding with Cricket Australia (CA).
Clearer build-ups, fewer excuses
Reflecting on a rushed lead-in that featured only a three-day warm-up against the Lions in Perth after a limited-overs trip to New Zealand, the ECB chief executive did not hide behind circumstance.
“We have to understand where our priorities are, and our priorities are largely with winning the Ashes and Test series against India,” Gould said. “Those are where our significant priorities are, so we need to make sure that we’ve got the right long-term planning and preparation for all of those major events.”
Gould wants the next Ashes tour, pencilled for 2029-30, locked into the ECB diary well before itineraries are finalised. Seamless co-ordination with CA on venues and dates, he argues, is essential if England are to avoid the familiar scramble for quality match practice.
“We need to do a better job in terms of the planning cycle,” he said. “We’ve started drafting what our options will be for the Ashes next time… we will make sure that this team do have the available windows to be able to put elements in.”
Respecting the format
England, India and Australia, the sport’s economic heavyweights, have often been accused of guarding home advantage too jealously by trimming opponents’ preparation time. Gould is keen to draw a line under that approach.
“We need to make sure that we respectively are providing the best training opportunities when we host Australia and India or when they host us,” he said. “Over a 10-to-15-year period, there has been a process whereby you maybe try and seek an advantage… That’s why you do see more intra-squad games.”
In short, he wants fewer contrived warm-ups and more meaningful first-class fixtures so players arrive match-hardened rather than under-cooked.
Test cricket still selling
Results aside, television and streaming figures for England Tests at home have risen each of the past four summers, a trend the ECB believes justifies continuity in the Stokes-McCullum project. Attendance for last year’s India series sold out inside a week; Ashes ticket demand remains equally strong.
Gould links that interest directly to the side’s aggressive style. Quietly, the board also notes that a settled environment proved crucial to England’s recent white-ball successes; replicating that stability in the red-ball set-up is viewed as the most sensible path.
No magic bullet
The chief executive accepts that scheduling pressures will not disappear. Franchise leagues occupy growing chunks of the global calendar, and England’s own Hundred creates domestic congestion. Yet, he argues, that is no reason to short-change marquee Test programming.
“We, as a system – that’s us, India, Australia – need to make sure that we’re paying full respect to the format of the game and making sure the players have the opportunity to perform their highest [potential].”
Next steps
• Finalise the memorandum with CA before the 2027 home Ashes.
• Ring-fence at least three first-class games ahead of tours to Australia and India.
• Review domestic schedules so centrally-contracted players are available for red-ball match time.
Whether that blueprint translates into series wins remains to be seen; England supporters have heard similar promises before. For now, Gould’s message is straightforward: proper preparation, not wholesale change, is the ECB’s chosen route back to the top.
