I don’t doubt Brendon McCullum’s credentials, but coaching England white-ball team will be a big challenge: Michael Atherton

Brendon McCullum (Twitter)

After England’s poor show in the ODI World Cup 2023 and T20 World Cup 2024, head coach Matthew Mott decided to step down from his role. There were plenty of names that were discussed but eventually, Brendon McCullum was appointed as the new white-ball head coach, who was already coaching the Test side.

Under his leadership, England changed their gameplay and made strategic adjustments which made the Ben Stokes-led side one of the fiercest competitors in Test cricket history. However, in white-ball cricket, England have been playing aggressively for quite some time but the results haven’t gone in their favour recently.

Meanwhile, McCullum was offered the role of white-ball head coach in 2022 as well but the former cricketer declined it due to its busy schedule. However, this time around he accepted the role stating that it has eased out a bit. Former cricketer Michael Atherton however believes that McCullum will have a challenging time in juggling the formats.

He noted that during the Rahul Dravid era in India, VVS Laxman filled in at times and he expects the same to happen in England soon. The 56-year-old also acknowledged that the white-ball team looked sorted when McCullum was hired for Test cricket, but things have completely flipped ever since.

Also Read – Brendon McCullum appointed as England’s white-ball head coach

“Now, in his appointment, he makes the point that the schedule has eased a bit from 2025. There aren’t those crossovers that there were, but I still think it is going to be a big challenge. I don’t doubt McCullum’s credentials at all, but the challenge will be just the extra responsibility, the extra time that it takes to plan and prepare and get a one-day team ready to play. You’re probably going to have to be doing that during a Test tour at times,” Atherton analysed during Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.

Marcus Trescothick will presumably step in from time to time: Atherton

The former England opener also pointed out one interesting aspect. He explained Team India’s coaching system where whenever Rahul Dravid was away from coaching duties, some former players chipped on an interim basis. Besides, Michael Atherton also added that the Test format was a bigger challenge earlier when Eoin Morgan led England’s limited overs side quite efficiently. However, in recent times, the challenge has flipped and hence McCullum will have to prove his credentials in the future after having accepted coaching in limited overs as well.

“I think it’ll make the people around him very important, people like Marcus Trescothick, who’s going to be the interim coach for this Australia series at the end of the summer, he will presumably step in from time to time. That’s how India have done it. They’ve had one man doing both, Rahul Dravid, until recently, but others have stepped in from time to time to give the head coach a break,” the former opener continued.

“When McCullum took the Test job, he said he thought the one-day job was a bit of a cushy role because that was going so well under Eoin Morgan and the Test team was more of a challenge, and that’s almost flipped now,” Atherton concluded.

Notably, McCullum will miss England’s upcoming white-ball assignment against Australia and is likely to be a part of the squad during the away series against West Indies.