I remember watching that mad summer of 2022 when Brendon McCullum rocked up with his sunnies and his swagger, promising to turn England Test cricket into some sort of fearless joyride. For a bit it looked like the bloke had cracked it. Then the results started to look less like revolution and more like reckless driving.
Yesterday the England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed what had been coming. McCullum is out as head coach of the men's Test side with immediate effect. He'll carry on with the white-ball teams, which tells you everything about where the real priority lies these days. Ben Stokes hung up his international boots around the 2nd of July. Two weeks later the whole Bazball circus has its tent taken down.
The numbers don't lie, even if the hype merchants spent years pretending they didn't matter. England played 49 Tests under McCullum: 27 wins, 20 defeats, two draws. Nice start, they rattled off 10 victories from the first 11. Then reality bit. Just three wins from the next 11. A 4-1 hiding in the Ashes, a recent home stuffing by New Zealand. The fun was wearing thin.
Some of England's most memorable moments in recent history have occurred under Brendon's leadership of the Test team. It has been an absolute privilege to watch him shape the mentality of the team. He leaves the Test team well set and poised to achieve great things.
That was Rob Key, the ECB's managing director of men's cricket, doing the polite corporate send-off. Translation: thanks for the memories, now clear off before the next Ashes humiliation. Richard Gould, the chief executive, was more blunt. He said the time is right to make a change as we target victory in the Ashes next summer. Funny how these radical experiments always seem to need a reset right before the one series that actually counts.
McCullum himself sounded genuinely gutted in the statement. "I have absolutely loved coaching the Test side and I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved together. Of course I am gutted not to be continuing, but I respect the decision." Fair play to the man. He leaves with a smile and best wishes for the dressing room full of "special bunch of lads" who he still believes will keep taking the game on. The talent was never the issue. The discipline, the judgment, the ability to grind when the pitch is flat and the scoreboard ugly, that was always the missing bit.
The next Test series starts against Pakistan on 19 August. No captain, no coach. The ECB has already kicked off the search for a new man, with the 2027 Ashes firmly in their sights. Translation: enough of the circus. Time for someone who understands that Test cricket rewards patience, technique and bloody-mindedness more than TikTok-friendly slogging.
