Sacking McCullum would have been 'easy' - ECB chief

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Rob Key (right) appointed Brendon McCullum as England Test coach in 2022

Cricket Correspondent at Lord'sPublished23 March 2026, 14:00 GMT556 CommentsUpdated 2 hours agoSacking head coach Brendon McCullum after England's Ashes debacle would have been the "easy thing to do", according to England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Richard Gould.

McCullum, director of cricket Rob Key and Test captain Ben Stokes are to remain in their posts despite the 4-1 Test defeat in Australia, a tour blighted by poor planning, substandard performances and off-field issues.

Gould was speaking alongside Key at Lord's on Monday, discussing the findings of a review of the tour.

"I've seen the driving ambition and determination that we're lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward," said Gould.

"These are all individuals that have got other things that they can do in their lives. They are all committed to doing the best for England and to learning the lessons that are evident."

Gould is the son of former Wales and Wimbledon football manager Bobby and has also previously served as the chief executive of Bristol City Football Club.

"My old man was a football manager," he said. "Sacking was part of the job and it wasn't necessarily the right thing. Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That's not the route that we're going to take."

Covering a wide range of topics related to the Ashes tour and the fallout, Gould and Key said:

there has been no "bust up" between McCullum and Stokes

England do not want McCullum to "completely change", but to "evolve"

behaviour of some players was "unprofessional" and there will be "new expectations"

there is not an "easy fix" to cricket's relationship with alcohol

only 30-40% of this review is "new" and England must stop "relearning old lessons"

A review or report seems to habitually follow an Ashes defeat in Australia. On this occasion, the ECB has resisted changing personnel, possibly against the desire of some sections of England supporters.

Some measures have already been implemented. England used a specialist fielding coach during the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka and T20 World Cup, though Key confirmed additions to the backroom staff would continue on an ad hoc basis.

There was also a midnight curfew imposed on players, while England are recruiting a new national selector and a new member of the board with an intention to boost cricketing expertise.

Beyond those changes, little new information was revealed by Key and Gould – perhaps an admission that the mistakes of the Ashes tour could have been prevented before the tour began.

McCullum and Stokes united as the leaders of the England Test team in 2022. Though both have continued to back each other in public, there was a clear divergence in their messaging in Australia.

Stokes referred to "weak men" in the dressing room, and asked for his players to "show some dog". As his ability to score runs ground to a halt, the captain later suggested opponents have found ways to combat England's attacking style. In contrast, McCullum thought England too easily came away from their methods in Australia.

"There's this view that it's either blocking or slogging - Ben's for blocking, Brendon's for slogging. That is not the case.

"We still want players to go out there and be aggressive, we still want players who can score runs against the best bowlers in the world. They've just got to be relentless in how they do it. Fundamentally there's alignment in the way we are going."

Cult or culture? McCullum comes full circle following Ashes review

Published3 days agoCriticism of England, and McCullum in particular, centred on an approach that appeared too casual to stand up to the intensity, rigour and pressure of Test cricket. The former New Zealand captain has previously said he makes "no apologies" for running an "informal" operation.

At the end of the Ashes, McCullum appeared resistant to having change imposed on him, and Key said he does not want the coach to lose his "authenticity".

"There's no point keeping Brendon McCullum if you want him to completely change who he is," said former Kent captain Key.

"All of us have to evolve, we have to get better. It's wrong to think he doesn't care, he doesn't think about everything. Everything he does is to enhance English cricket."

Allied to accusations of an over-relaxed environment are instances of off-field misdemeanours.

On a holiday to Noosa during the Ashes, a number of players drank heavily for as many as six consecutive days. Opener Ben Duckett was apparently drunk in a video posted online by a member of the public.

At the end of the fifth Test against Australia, it emerged Harry Brook was punched by a nightclub bouncer in Wellington on the white-ball tour of New Zealand that preceded the Ashes. Brook, Jacob Bethell and Josh Tongue are under investigation from the Cricket Regulator over the incident in the New Zealand capital.

Gould said there were "some instances" that the ECB regarded as "significantly unprofessional".

When Key became director of cricket he removed the curfew, which is now back in place as part of "new expectations" on player behaviour.

England want their culture and environment to be "positive, relaxed and high-performance", with "better individual and collective decision-making".

"Cricket's relationship with alcohol as a global game is not the same as other sports and that's something we have got to get better at," said Key.

"It's not going to be an easy fix. This is not just a problem for the England team, this is throughout the game.

"You can treat everyone like schoolkids, and they rebel. I'm not going to solve this problem just myself, it's something we need to do as a game."

Key last spoke publicly in Melbourne, before the fourth Ashes Test. On that occasion, he was asked about Noosa and suggestions of misbehaviour in New Zealand, but chose not to reveal the full extent of the Brook incident.

Despite the altercation with the nightclub bouncer occurring the night before a one-day international, Brook was retained as white-ball captain. He was given a final warning and fined, an amount initially thought to be £30,000, but what is in fact nearer £55,000.

Gould said he would repeat the decision to keep the incident under wraps if it were to arise again, while Key believes it will be the "making of" Brook as a captain.

The regularity of England being forced to analyse an away Ashes hammering inevitably leads to recurring themes.

The ECB said it needs a "four-year Ashes planning cycle", and has already held talks with Cricket Australia about reciprocal arrangements regarding preparation. England have identified the "protection" of a "four-to-six-week window" before an Ashes tour.

Still, Gould acknowledged that only "30-40%" of this review presented new information, suggesting England have not moved on from past failures.

"Therein lies parts of the lesson," he said. "We need to stop having to relearn old lessons.

"We need to make sure that we've got the personnel and the team and the management in there that can take those through and not have to relearn the whole time."

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