McCullum merged the Test and white-ball roles in 2024, two years after he first took charge of the Test team. When he arrived as Test coach in 2022, he initially began to show off the superb results achieved in breathtaking cricket.
The partnership with Stokes – Baseball style – has reinvigorated an England team that had won only one of its previous 17 Tests.
Some reckless hitting saw England secure famous victories over New Zealand at Trent Bridge, India at Edgbaston and Pakistan at Rawalpindi, with the latter victory the start of a 3-0 series win. Overall, England won 10 of their first 11 Tests under McCullum and Stokes.
However, since that initial period of success, England have lost 19 and won 17 of 38 Tests, starting with a heartbreaking one-off defeat to New Zealand in Wellington, which continued after England secured the follow-on.
England were beaten 2-0 in the 2023 Ashes at home but turned around to draw 2-2 and might have won the urn had rain not washed out almost all of the last two days of the fourth Test at Old Trafford.
The 2024 tour of India began with another famous win in Hyderabad but ended with a 4–1 series defeat.
Returning home from India, Stokes, McCullum and Key have their sights set on the Ashes tour in 2025-26, including ending the career of England’s all-time leading player James Anderson.
England developed plans for a quick strike on Australia and prepared perhaps the most hostile attack in over 50 years for the journey underground.
But the tour fell apart due to inadequate planning, poor performances and accusations of a drinking culture.
Having played just one warm-up match against the Lions, England were in a strong position in the first Test in Perth – 105 runs ahead with nine wickets in hand shortly after lunch on the second day. In a stunning explosion, England were defeated before the end of the day and never recovered.
Although England won the fourth Test in Melbourne, their first victory in Australia in 14 years, their performances elsewhere were dismal – leaving a battered team ill-prepared for the demands of the tour.
England’s off-field reputation revolves around their public drinking in Noosa, when opener Ben Duckett was filmed apparently drunk.
Worse came at the end of the Ashes tour when it emerged that Brook had been knocked down by a Wellington nightclub bouncer on the eve of the one-day international tour of New Zealand that preceded the trip to Australia.
After being backed to stay in their seats, McCullum and Stokes attempted to distance themselves from rumors of a split that allegedly originated in Australia.
England increased its backroom staff to help with preparations and imposed a midnight curfew in an attempt to avoid further controversy.
There was optimism when they won the first home test of the summer against New Zealand at Lord’s, but a nightclub incident that occurred while Stokes was celebrating the victory set off a chain of events that left England in turmoil.
McCallum’s contract with the white-ball team runs until the end of the 50-a-side World Cup in southern Africa next autumn.
England must now find a Test coach who can work alongside McCullum’s strong personality and laid-back approach.