Nasser Hussain believes Rob Key has made a ‘bold and courageous’ decision in appointing Brendon McCullum as the new England Test head coach this week; McCullum is known to be predominantly a white-ball manager, but he has been tapped to work with new captain Ben Stokes to revive England’s Test form.
Brendon McCullum’s appointment as new England Test head coach is “hugely exciting” but he and skipper Ben Stokes must “challenge each other” to revive England Test results, says Nasser Hussain.
McCullum, who has predominantly worked as a white-ball coach, has been handed a four-year deal by England men’s managing director Rob Key as the Test team looks to regain some form after a 16-in-17 losing streak. tests.
Although he has no experience as a red ball coach, McCullum’s captaincy of the New Zealand Test side, which led to a complete culture change for the team from 2013, will have been a compelling example of leadership for Key, who hopes emulate. now as England manager.
It’s Key’s second major appointment since taking over as managing director after he picked Stokes as his new Test captain just weeks ago, and while the move has come as a shock, Hussain believes he could help the England team. . as they take a new direction.
“It’s a bold, brave and exciting decision,” Hussain said.
“It’s a bit sloppy, I think most people expected maybe a Brendon McCullum guy to come into the white ball team and work with his partner Eoin Morgan and possibly someone with more red ball cricket experience like Gary Kirsten “. for the test match format.
“But Rob Key sees it differently, I think both Stokes and McCullum are cut from the same cloth and Key has that kind of idea that he wants a positive captain and a positive coach to take the team in a new direction and McCullum definitely fit into that project.”
“That captain-coach relationship that they have to sing to the same score, they both have to be constantly working together.
“They also have to challenge each other, I’ll be perfectly honest.
“It’s not about Stokes and McCullum always agreeing with each other. It’s also how he really describes positive cricket, it’s not wreckless cricket.”
“I almost found out Rob Key about this the other day, he talked about the type of cricket, he wants England to play a positive type of cricket, I think the England fans and I want to see England play a winning type of cricket, however that’s done, go out there and start winning test matches.
“If it’s positive and exciting, double bonus. But winning is the most important thing.
“I think it’s very exciting to have Stokes as your captain, McCullum as your manager, it’s going to be a very exciting few months and years.”
Watch Brendon McCullum’s first series in charge of England live on Sky Sports, as his team take on New Zealand in three tests, starting at Lord’s on June 2.
