A summer that began with Brendon McCullum flying halfway around the world to call time on Jimmy Anderson’s remarkable England career ends with the head coach more powerful than ever. And it may just be that Josh Hull, due to make his Test debut against Sri Lanka at the Oval on Thursday , embodies the maverick streak that has led to the New Zealander being handed the keys to all three England men’s teams.
On the face of it, Hull, 10 first-class games and a bowling average of 62, should be nowhere near ready, even in a series wrapped up at 2-0 with one to play. But as with horses, his other passion, McCullum is now picking on attributes over form.
Hull is 20 years old, 6ft 7in tall and a left-armer with it. And like Jeetan Patel, England’s assistant coach who profited from the rough outside off stump created by Keith Barker at Warwickshire, Shoaib Bashir, as an off-spinner, should benefit also.
Could it go wrong for young Hull on the day? McCullum, speaking publicly for the first time since his coaching remit was expanded and his contract extended to the end of 2027, accepted this was a possibility. In the past two and a half years he and Ben Stokes have fostered an environment that has empowered five bowlers to claim five-wicket hauls on debut, but as someone who likes a punt, McCullum knows past performance does not guarantee future results.
Like Bashir earlier in the year, however, Hull is not a punt per se, rather a long-term investment that is not expected to reap immediate results. “You’re not after that instant gratification when you pick them,” said McCullum.
“We hope he goes well. He might take a 10-fer. But it kind of doesn’t matter because we see him as someone who is worth investing in. Whatever happens, we will wrap our arm around him and make sure he knows he’s firmly in our sights for the future.”
McCullum’s view here is that the County Championship is almost a “different game” and were he picking a team to play in it, it would differ from the Test side. His role in Test selection is to identify rough diamonds and “hasten” their suitability for the top level through hot-housing.
The same is likely to follow with the white-ball teams now he has taken over. It was a move first prompted by the team director, Rob Key, simply approaching him for advice on the way forward and one that, after clearing it with his family in New Zealand, felt “a bet worth taking”.
The 42-year-old accepts his workload will increase and, as is the case for the leading players, he may sit out some series and let others step up. But he also fancies that with the schedule easing – it remains stacked, albeit with fewer tours directly overlapping – and his knowledge of English cricket two years’ richer, his consistency of messaging and an ability to make players walk out feeling “10ft tall and bullet-proof” will smooth out any past wrinkles from having split coaches.
His diagnosis of the white-ball team and, in particular, its captain, Jos Buttler, came with a belief that the Test team’s upbeat, play-like-you’re-in-the-back-yard mantra will transfer across as a generational shift takes place. While announced before his own contract extension, the fresh-faced squads to take on Australia are understood to have had his direct input.
Buttler, he said, has looked “a little bit miserable”, but with his legacy secured – a shout to be England’s greatest white-ball player and a double World Cup-winner – now, aged 33, was the time to play with a sense of fun.
If McCullum can unlock this, and reset an increasingly downbeat culture that, during the T20 World Cup, led to one player being told by a member of the leadership group to apologise to his teammates for a poor shot, then Buttler’s tenure, while paused by injury, could yet witness an upturn. Clearly, this will still involve a broadened talent pool, with bilateral white-ball series likely to remain the proving ground and global tournaments – there is a Champions Trophy, a T20 World Cup and a 50-over World Cup before the end of his deal – the time to go full strength.
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For the Test side, a previously tidy narrative arc that had England looking to peak for the series against India and Australia next year is now more open-ended. Not discounting that things can change – just ask Matthew Mott – McCullum’s final assignment will be the 2027 Ashes at home. It is a series he expects Stokes to be playing in, even if the all-rounder will be 36 by then and they have not actually spoken about this yet.
After an initial two years of expanding minds and challenging old norms such as scoring rates, this summer has been about freshening up the side and making better decisions in the pressure moments. Ollie Pope, while struggling for runs of late, has impressed McCullum as a stand-in skipper.
That this has been possible while maintaining a winning streak – England can complete victory in every Test of the summer at the Oval, the first time this feat has been achieved since 2004 – may also say a bit about the quality of opposition; a growing sense that, rather than being the cyclical nature of sport, the so-called “Big Three” of England, India and Australia are starting to pull away.
“I don’t have the answers,” said McCullum, while still talking up this summer’s tourists. “But it would be nice if it was competitive, well funded and well supported across the entire world.”
Maverick picks such as Hull and Bashir defy past convention and get county cricket supporters chuntering, but, on his last point, surely everyone is in agreement.
