As part of the Team of the Year selection by an expert panel, the latest edition of the magazine has selected McCullum to coach their ultimate Test team of 2022.

McCullum took over as England coach in May last year after their series losses in Australia and the West Indies over the preceding winter, and subsequent departure of previous coach Chris Silverwood. Since then, they have gone on to win nine of their next 10 Test matches, including series victories over New Zealand and South Africa as well as beating India in the delayed final Test of the 2021 bilateral series – all in the same summer.

England’s home Test summer will be remembered for remarkable performances from Ben Stokes as the newly appointed England captain as well as Jonny Bairstow’s sensational pyrotechnics at Trent Bridge, Headingley, and Edgbaston. Joe Root also scored three hundreds across the summer, including an unbeaten 142 against India at Edgbaston.

McCullum has been credited for the relaxed style he has brought to the England dressing room, and the environment he created to mastermind their series victory in Pakistan, their first ever 3-0 series win in the country. England wracked up 506 runs on the opening day of the series in Rawalpindi, the most ever on the first day of a Test match, going on to register one of their greatest ever overseas wins.

In the February 2023 edition of WCM, magazine editor Phil Walker summarises why McCullum’s appointment was a stroke of genius by the England management, and how the new environment has allowed England’s players to perform to the standards they have over the last six months.

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