How did Brendon McCullum go from world cricket’s Mr Nice Guy to king of the England attack dogs?

England was supposedly “too nice”. Then its anger boiled over in an ugly finish to the fourth Test against India. What will that mean streak do for the Ashes and what does it say about Brendon McCullum?

Who is the real Brendon McCullum?

The England coach is leading a double life and has become one of the most intriguing figures in the looming Ashes series.

McCullum finished his playing days with the reputation as the man who brought sportsmanship back to cricket, with his New Zealand team credited for the spirit in which they played the game.

But suddenly McCullum is in charge of an England team with its gloves in the air, convinced they were “too nice” for Test cricket.

As a result, England is on a path of no return leading into this summer’s Ashes showdown.

They can’t wind back their aggressive on-field strategy now, and the fuse is well and truly lit for the first Test in Perth in a few months’ time.

McCullum is a great coaching success story.

Coaches come and go, but few put their stamp on a team like McCullum has done with England.

Regardless of what happens this Ashes summer, when McCullum chooses to sail off into the sunset he will leave a genuine legacy behind him, which will be studied and debated for generations to come.

However, England’s decision that they are sick of being “Mr Nice Guys” is a strange one, especially with McCullum as coach.

As Gideon Haigh surmised for Cricket Et Al; “Of all the ideas entertained about Ben Stokes’s team, that they’re ‘too nice’ wouldn’t have been in anyone’s top hundred. Near the top, however, would be too massively self-involved.”

The success of ‘Baz Ball’ has been McCullum’s ability to find cricketers to suit his blueprint and then getting 11 men to all buy into the one ethos.

However, when it comes to this new embrace of sledging and on-field antagonising tactics, does it actually suit the personalities of the men asked to carry it out?

It certainly wasn’t McCullum’s go as a player, at least in his later years, with New Zealand’s 2015 World Cup campaign characterised as the Nice Guys versus the nasty Australians.

Perhaps finishing second in that final has played some part in McCullum altering his view on sledging and gamesmanship and the psychological role it can play in cricket?

Harry Brook for one has dived head-first into this new persona as attack dog, which is fine when you’re averaging 56 in Test cricket as he is at the moment.

But he wouldn’t want to come to Australia and make 4, 10 and 6 from his first three innings. Then it’s very difficult to stay in character.

As Mitchell Johnson said this week, “sledging only works when you’re dominating.”

Ben Stokes speaks with Ravi Jadeja on day five of the fourth Test.

England in most respects look a much stronger cricket team than Australia is at the moment, but they’ve only heaped pressure on their campaign with the way they’ve carried themselves in this pulsating series against India.

Australia will have enjoyed the slight shift in the Ashes narrative since their crippling batting collapses in the West Indies and in the World Test Championship Final.

All eyes will be on the fifth and deciding Test at The Oval starting Thursday night.

McCullum knows better than anyone Australia’s love for hard-nosed cricket, and this summer will prove whether England can also pull it off.

Originally published as How did Brendon McCullum go from world cricket’s Mr Nice Guy to king of the England attack dogs?