Mike Atherton on the mounting pressure on England coach Brendon McCullum as Ashes slip away

Pressure is mounting on Brendon McCullum for the first time in his tenure as England coach. Mike Atherton examines the situation and delves into McCullum’s “overprepared” comment.

As a scrapper from a blue-collar part of South Dunedin, experienced in the ways of professional sport, Brendon McCullum would not expect any sympathy right now.

“You don’t get to feel sorry for yourself if things don’t go well. If you come to this country with a glass jaw then you’ve got no chance. You have to be strong and tough and get on with it,” he said after defeat in Brisbane.

For the first time, though, since he took the job on in the early summer of 2022, the focus is settling on him.

Political spin doctors never want to become the story and that is true of cricket coaches, too. McCullum, who slimmed down England’s backroom staff and prefers coaches to stay in the background, has turned the spotlight on himself after saying his team trained too much and were overprepared for the Brisbane Test.

It often gets to this point, after a run of defeats, where the coach emits a line that sticks like glue. “We flippin’ murdered ‘em,” became David Lloyd’s epitaph after the winter of 1996-97, and a bad tour of Zimbabwe.

“We’ll have to look at the data,” was the mud thrown back at Peter Moores after the dismal World Cup of 2015, even though he probably said, “We’ll have to look at it later.”

Should performances head further south, the “overprepared” comment feels like McCullum’s equivalent.

Everything rests on performances and results.

Andy Flower, as successful a coach as any England have had, was the polar opposite to McCullum in methods, yet when results turned, as they did in the Ashes of 2013-14, there was no hiding place.

Brendon McCullum during an England practice session.

His focus, unyielding determination and attention to detail, strengths that had helped push England to No. 1 the world, became perceived weaknesses of intransigence, inflexibility and sourness.

The “mood hoover” of Kevin Pietersen’s imagination.

Duncan Fletcher was a revered coach and the mastermind of the 2005 Ashes win, but all that counted for little when his team were whitewashed in the Ashes of 2006-07 and dumped out of the World Cup shortly afterwards. Fletcher also preferred his bowlers to be a touch underdone before a big game but where he was praised for having them fresh for 2005, it was a different matter when Steve Harmison’s first ball went to second slip in 2006.

Results have begun to turn against McCullum.

Recycling the fresh and invigorating air that he blew through a stale and tired dressing room in early 2022 is proving more difficult.

While his record (P43 W25 L16 D2) stands very healthy comparison with what went before, a dozen of those losses have come since the start of 2024, since when they have lost as many Tests as they have won, and his team have now lost four of their past six, having thrown away some promising positions.

McCullum has a laugh during a nets session.

The England coach is under increasing pressure with Bazball struggling in Australia.

His team came back from 2-0 down in the Ashes to a competitive draw in 2023, but this feels very different.

England were in home conditions then, lifted by the Headingley crowd and by a rapid opening burst from Mark Wood, combined with the return of a battle-hardened campaigner in Chris Woakes.

A little more than 12 months on from the start of the Rob Key, Ben Stokes and McCullum project, things felt fresher and more hopeful then.

That said, I hope McCullum is judged on how his team plays, rather than what he says. The nature of media interactions means that captains and coaches are sometimes judged on interviews, rather than the six hours of evidence during play. Once upon a time, they spoke infrequently, allowing their teams to speak for them. Now they must react all the time. Sometimes, as with Stokes’s “has-beens” comment, the words slip out all wrong, unintentionally.

And, in difficult moments and especially on an Ashes tour, the silly season arrives. When Jofra Archer walked to the ground carrying a pillow during the Test it became a story. Frankly, I couldn’t care less whether he walks to the ground with a pillow. I’m interested in how he bowls.

McCullum speaks to captain Ben Stokes at training.

McCullum, for sure, knew what he was saying with his “overprepared” line. It was not a slip of the tongue, as he repeated it to various outlets. He may have been trying to deflect attention from his players on to himself, but that is probably overthinking matters. What is clear, which is something Stokes also reiterated after defeat, is that he wants energies channelled into the white heat of competition rather than the build-up to it.

McCullum, again, post-Brisbane: “What happens out in the middle is the only thing that matters. Many people have thoughts and theories on how best to prepare, but the majority of this game is played in the top two inches. The skill level among various players all around the world, there isn’t a stark contrast. It’s those who are able to handle the big moments, able to read conditions quickly and able to adapt – they are the ones to excel.

“There is no perfect preparation. Five days of training leading into this game was two more than Australia and they were a lot fresher and sharper than we were. Sometimes you’ve got to make decisions based on your logic, your experience as a coach. We have three days of training when we get to Adelaide, which is more than enough. Then it’s making sure we add the physical preparation of those three days with the mental freshen-up of the next three days. That will give us the best chance,” he said.

McCullum and Stokes are trying to resurrect their campaign after falling to a 2-0 deficit.

McCullum greets his players after the loss in Brisbane.

The England coach said post-match his team was overprepared.

Coaches across all sports prepare their players differently, and have various theories on what constitutes best practice. What matters, though, and what coaches should be judged on, is outcomes. McCullum has made his choices around preparation and the evidence, so far on the field of play, has not reflected well on them: with bat, ball and in the field, England have been exceptionally poor. As long as performance is the benchmark then McCullum will have and can have no complaints.

Four years ago the BBC ran a documentary called Project Ashes, outlining the meticulous planning that went into the previous Ashes tour – so meticulous that the series ran for six episodes. The planning and prep didn’t survive the opening skirmishes in Brisbane, though, and, rightly, it did not cause observers to modify their criticisms at the end of a disastrous tour. It is performances and results on which McCullum and England should be judged.

I sense this management team will hold things together rather better than last time, Covid-complications notwithstanding. McCullum has been around the block as an athlete and has broad shoulders. “The captain and I, we’re both tough blokes who have been in this kind of pressure before and there’s only one way to go about it and that’s to have that belief in yourself and trust those around you who you believe in. Make sure you stay tight, keep morale high within the group and keep getting towards what you’re trying to achieve,” he said.

Holding tough is an ancient requirement in this part of the world. As Len Hutton once said: “The grounds are hard, the ball is hard, the men are hard. You need to be harder than they are to beat them.” McCullum and Stokes, and their players, will need to show inner steel now more than ever.

Originally published as Mike Atherton on the mounting pressure on England coach Brendon McCullum as Ashes slip away