"Bold, Brave, Exciting; Both Ben Stokes And Brendon McCullum Are Cut From The Same Cloth" - Nasser Hussain
Former England skipper Nasser Hussain welcomed ECB’s decision to rope in Brendon McCullum as the Test team’s head coach but believes that both McCullum and newly appointed skipper, Ben Stokes, have their work cut out.
Following the Ashes debacle, the former captain-coach duo of Joe Root and Chris Silverwood were under pressure. They ended up resigning after a series defeats to West Indies and Stokes was appointed as the new skipper.
McCullum, who changed New Zealand’s Test landscape after their infamous 45-all out against South Africa in 2013, was brought in with the hopes of doing the same for England, which is going through a terrible phase in the longest format of the game.
“It’s a bold, brave, exciting decision. It’s a little bit left field, I think most people expected maybe a Brendon McCullum type to come into the white-ball team and work with his mate Eoin Morgan and possibly somebody with more experience in red-ball cricket like a Gary Kirsten come in 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 sort of idea that he wants a positive captain and positive coach taking the team in a new direction and McCullum definitely fits that bill. That captain-coach relationship they do have to sing off the same hymn sheet, they have to both constantly be working together,” Hussain told Sky Sports.
“It will be a very exciting few months and years ahead” – Nasser Hussain
Hussain underlined the need to differentiate between playing positively and recklessly, stating McCullum and Stokes will have to find the right balance and not go overboard.
“They also have to challenge each other, I’ll be perfectly honest. It’s not a case of Stokes and McCullum always agreeing with each other. It’s also how you describe positive cricket really, it’s not reckless cricket. I nearly picked Rob Key upon this the other day, he talked about brand of cricket, he wants England to play a positive brand of cricket.”
“I think England fans and myself want to see England play a winning brand of cricket, however, that’s done, go out and start winning Test matches. If it is positive and exciting, double bonus. But winning is the most important thing. I think it’s hugely exciting, to have Stokes as your captain, McCullum as your coach, it will be a very exciting few months and years ahead,” Hussain added.
The new duo’s first test will be against the current WTC Champions, New Zealand, when they visit for a 3-match Test series starting on June 2.
