ECB Appoints Brendon McCullum as White-Ball Head Coach

The England and Wales Cricket Board, ECB, has appointed Brendon McCullum the new men’s white-ball head coach, which means the New Zealander will combine that role with his existing Test duties.

McCullum has agreed a remarkable new three-year deal as part of what the ECB has termed a “strategic restructure” within the men’s set-up.

The contract extension, means that McCullum is set to oversee England’s white-ball fortunes, up to and including the next 50-over World Cup in South Africa in October-November 2027, while also guiding the Test squad all the way through to England’s next home Ashes campaign, earlier that same year.

Marcus Trescothick, England’s interim head coach for the upcoming series against Australia, will continue in that role for the white-ball tour of the Caribbean in November, with McCullum officially beginning his twin tenure in January 2025, in time for their white-ball tour of India, and the ICC Champions Trophy which is set to take place in Pakistan in February and March.

The deal comes in the wake of Matthew Mott’s sacking as white-ball head coach in July, following England’s disappointing defences of both their 50- and 20-over World Cup titles. It is a significant coup for the ECB, and their director of men’s cricket, Rob Key, given the apparent reluctance of a host of major names to put their names forward for the role.

Ricky Ponting and Eoin Morgan, England’s 2019 World Cup-winning captain, were among the prime candidates to officially rule themselves out of contention, while Andy Flower’s status as one of the most sought-after franchise coaches in the world game meant there was little prospect of him returning to the ECB, a decade after his last stint as England head coach ended in 2014.

McCullum himself had shown little interest in the white-ball role when he took over as England’s Test coach in May 2022. However, amid the subsequent success of his Test tenure, in particular the so-called ‘Bazball’ mentality that helped to liberate the team’s attitude to success and failure, he has now agreed to carry that ethos across to a white-ball set-up, captained by Jos Buttler, that is set to undergo a generational shift over the course of the coming international cycle.