After England's training schedule in India came under the scanner during a third consecutive heavy ODI defeat, the public mood around Brendon McCullum's tenure is changing.
“I do love the players and they have so much talent.”
And thus, Kevin Pietersen signed off, having dropped a hornet’s nest in the England camp with his ‘revelation’ that the tourists hadn’t trained since the start of the India ODI series, despite their T20I travails only worsening with the addition of 30 overs per innings.
First the facts. England haven’t trained as a team since the end of the first ODI, as Pietersen asserts. However, that’s a span of six days, two of which were spent playing and two of which were spent travelling. India trained once in that time, with England’s decision not to was influenced by a sudden injury crisis - Paul Collingwood was kitted up ready to run on as a sub-fielder during the third ODI - and by the demands of the entire tour, spanning seven weeks and culminating in the Champions Trophy.
That’s the case for the defence. For the prosecution, there’s the identity of the one player who did net during the series, Joe Root, who is a decent role model to follow. Then again, how much would a couple of practice sessions averted disaster against one of the most complete white-ball sides ever assembled?
So you have a decision which can be argued either way, and yet also a gutburst of anger that only usually unfolds as English cricketing eras are coming to an end. “I can’t believe I’m agreeing with KP,” was a common theme on social media. There’s something deeper at play here.
England were criticised by Ravi Shastri and Kevin Pietersen for not training sufficiently during their recent India tour.
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) February 14, 2025
Jos Buttler, however, has defended their practice schedule.
READ: https://t.co/dXkdj3gBdj pic.twitter.com/8AEvrOfiK2
Even through the ODI World Cup doom spiral, the T20 World Cup semi-final sleepwalk, there wasn’t quite this outpouring of outrage. England fans, you can sense, are tiring, of watching their team lose, but especially of watching their team lose in the same way. Similar-paced bowlers acting as cannon fodder for princely Indian bats. Spin attacked in dunderheaded fashion without a back-up plan when it’s not there to hit. In isolation, England’s training schedule might be defensible. In the whole, the sense of a team not fussed enough about failure is hardening. England’s philosophy, that not caring about results is the best way to get results, only holds when the win percentage is ticking upwards.
So perception matters, but only because of the worsening reality, and it’s the numbers that McCullum’s success or otherwise will be judged on. There are plenty of problems to be fixed, whether that’s done so in the nets, the dressing room or on the golf course.
Most pressing is the batting. At times you can question the basic cricketing thinking, of trying to take down Varun Chakravarthy, your mystery-spinning archnemesis, one over after the powerplay when you’ve got your team off to a flier, as Phil Salt did in the second ODI, or with three balls left in a hitherto wicketless spell, the required rate down below 10 for the last six overs, as Harry Brook did in the fourth T20I. A series defeat was confirmed soon after on each occasion.
While Salt, a fine T20 player who is yet to show any evidence he can play the long innings against the best sides required of an ODI opener, might have had his time come the end of the Champions Trophy, Brook is the more intriguing proposition. The success of McCullum’s tenure as white-ball coach may well live or die on whether Brook fulfills his world-class potential, and while the brainfades are frustrating it’s the decisions to attack that are, on the face of it, more understandable that are also the more worrying, when he finds themselves facing a mounting rate and a bowler on top and need to land a blow back.
It’s a problem of tempo, a combination of technique and temperament that leaves some of their batters unable to find or maintain a natural scoring rate without undue risk. The best players in the world, particularly in the middle order, keep the game moving even when, on the face of it, nothing is happening. Remove the balls off which he hits boundaries, and Joe Root still strikes at 61.21. Jos Buttler is even better, ticking along at 63.64. Virat Kohli goes at 58.07 and AB de Villiers went at 59.24. Brook, meanwhile, is well down at 47.69. It’s especially an issue for a player who naturally wants to dominate, since any period ‘won’ by the bowling side is unconscionable.
Time and again, Brook finds himself tied down by spin, unable to tick over the strike, and then gets himself out. The fifth ODI contained a typical period. In the 24th over, Brook shimmied and launched Axar Patel down the ground for four, a simple, seductive display of his shining talent. The other five balls in the over were dots, Brook increasingly frustrated at failing to find the timing or the placement needed to puncture the infield. Two overs later he was out attacking Harshit Rana. Mastering the middle overs in ODI cricket means minimising risk, scoring at a good rate without danger. If you can’t find singles, you’ll get bogged down and attack will be your only option. It’s an option that England often go to anyway under McCullum, but increasingly it’s unsticking them.
The roots of these struggles go far beyond the last few weeks, and are unlikely to be solved by a few naughty-boy nets. Brook against spin stands as a defining challenge of his mid-career, but it’s also not just a Brook issue. At an early stage, Jacob Bethell has a non-boundary strike rate of 48, while Liam Livingstone’s is only a little better at 53.63. Expecting England’s players to instantly pin down the rhythms and routines required for 50-over cricket when they play it so little looks increasingly optimistic, and will require a structural reset to solve. But the mood around English cricket and McCullum’s tenure is changing, and will face its sternest test across 10 Tests against India and Australia at the end of this year. They could do with Brook striking a tune sooner rather than later.
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