England Appointed Kiwi Brendon McCullum As Head Test Coach

Summary

• England appoints new Test Coach for the next 4 years
• McCullum will step down as KKR coach to take up 4 year contract
• First assignment will be against New Zealand on June 2

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have appointed former New Zealand test captain Brendon McCullum to the post of England head test coach. McCullum was the favorite to bag the job and even though he does not have any red ball test coaching experience, the ECB decided to take a calculated gamble and give him a 4 year contract to turn around the terrible fortunes of England’s test team.

McCullum is currently in India as part of the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) where he is the head coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchise. He is expected to step down as KKR head coach at the end of this IPL season to take up his new England test head coach role. KKR will struggle to make the 2022 IPL playoffs which means McCullum will not have to wait till the 2022 IPL is completed.

McCullum will travel to England once the IPL is finished to take up his responsibilities as head coach. England has also recently appointed Ben Stokes as the new test captain after ex-captain Joe Root stepped down. England has done well in recent times with the white ball but their performance in test cricket has been horrible losing 9 tests in 2021. England have so far played 5 tests in 2022, drawn 3 and lost 2.

McCullum will have a tough challenge ahead of him as England are set to face New Zealand in June. McCullum will no doubt have a lot of inside knowledge with regards to the strengths and weaknesses of the Kiwis as he played 1010 tests for New Zealand and captained then in 31 tests till his retirement.

McCullum said he knew his work was cut out for him as he would have to confront head on the challenges England are facing as a test team and then inculcate a winning culture within the team. McCullum believes that Ben Stokes is the right man to lead England through this transition phase and will work closely with England’s director of cricket Rob Key.