England in India: Brendon McCullum takes over as white-ball coach
2025-01-21
Category: sports

"A watchable brand of cricket."That was the phrase on Brendon McCullum's lips when he spoke to the media on Monday.Those words gave a hint that the New Zealander, unsurprisingly, wants to bring much of England's red-ball approach to the white-ball team he leads for the first time on Wednesday against India.The five-match T20 series and the three 50-over matches that follow will be the first time McCullum has taken charge of an international white-ball side, having previously had success in franchise cricket as well as an impressive run as Black Caps captain.So what does McCullum's past tell us about England's future in white-ball cricket?Is it as simple as Bazball in coloured clothes?
Front-loading a quick with the new ball
One of the key themes of Bazball under Ben Stokes and McCullum has been a wish to always take wickets, whatever the situation.In New Zealand's run to the final of the 2015 World Cup, the highlight of McCullum's time as New Zealand captain, his use of left-armer Trent Boult in that tournament typified his thirst for wickets.Boult bowled an opening spell of at least seven overs in six of the Black Caps' nine matches during the tournament, including all 10 overs unchanged at the start of their quarter-final win against West Indies.The benefit is obvious - early wickets limit the potential damage later on.But while McCullum enjoyed the tactic, only three times has an England bowler (Chris Woakes twice and David Willey) bowled a seven-over opening spell under captain Jos Buttler in one-day internationals.Jofra Archer would be a prime candidate to be front-loaded under McCullum, but his record at the death is the best in England's squad to play India.Perhaps the challenge could fall to Gus Atkinson?
Attacking at the top 
McCullum's eagerness to also attack with the bat is undoubted.Long before the invention of Bazball, McCullum's New Zealand reached the final of the 2015 World Cup with an attacking style - a method taken on by England under Eoin Morgan that culminated in their 2019 World Cup victory.In the 2015 tournament McCullum opened and batted with a strike-rate of 201 in the first 10 overs of an innings.The Black Caps scored more than one run per over quicker than any other team across the tournament in the powerplay, with McCullum hitting 308 runs from 153 balls in that period.At the other end, Martin Guptill scored at a more gentle 84 runs per 100 balls in the powerplay, before raising his scoring rate when the field was set back.Could Phil Salt fill the McCullum role and Ben Duckett mirror Guptill's approach?
Not afraid to take big decisions
McCullum's bold approach was also reflected in his time as a head coach in franchise cricket, prior to taking the England Test job.He won the Caribbean Premier League in 2020 with Trinbago Knight Riders, going unbeaten throughout the 12-match T20 tournament, and also reached the final of the Indian Premier League with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2021.There, after KKR won just two of their first seven matches, he publicly called out his batters for being too timid in their approach."I've asked time and time again for us to be more aggressive," he said."A saying that I've used throughout my career is 'if you can't change a man, change the man'."The result was Nitish Rana being moved from opener to the middle order, with Venkatesh Iyer coming in at the top.KKR's powerplay run-rate jumped from 7.25 per over to 8.08, and seven wins were taken from the next nine before defeat against Chennai Super Kings in the final.Attacking is non-negotiable.
All-rounders key to success 
Throughout his time with both franchises, all-rounders have been key to McCullum's success in T20 cricket.Spin-bowling all-rounder Sunil Narine played 50 times for the New Zealander across both franchises - more than any other player - while pace-bowling all-rounders Andre Russell (34 appearances), Pat Cummins (26 appearances) and Kieron Pollard (23 appearances) were also key players.This would put the likes of Liam Livingstone and Jacob Bethell, but also Brydon Carse and Jamie Overton, in a strong position to feature for England.McCullum, as with most teams in modern-day white-ball cricket, also puts great stock in wrist spinners in his limited-overs teams.He picked at least one in all his matches in charge of KKR, often pairing mystery-spinner Narine and leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy. Narine and Australian leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed also featured heavily for Trinbago during McCullum's title-winning season.Adil Rashid, who turns 37 next month, is likely to remain as crucial as ever.