England’s white-ball head coach Brendon McCullum is determined to shape a team capable of challenging for major trophies, with next year’s 50-over World Cup firmly on his radar, as he prepares to return to Australia for a three-match ODI series.
McCullum, who was sacked as England’s Test head coach midway through the English summer following a disappointing Ashes campaign last winter, said his focus was now firmly on improving the white-ball sides and building towards the World Cup.
England’s white-ball head coach Brendon McCullum is determined to shape a team capable of challenging for major trophies, with next year’s 50-over World Cup firmly on his radar, as he prepares to return to Australia for a three-match ODI series.
“You can’t really go back on the four years that you’ve had. You’re just grateful for the opportunity that you got. However, McCullum insisted that his attention was firmly on the challenges ahead, describing the Australian tour as an opportunity for his inexperienced squad to test its methods and continue developing in the build-up to the World Cup. “Firstly, it’s nice to be back. An Australia tour is always a great tour. The cricket’s always pretty competitive. We’ll play at some great stadiums, against a good side, and continue to test our methods, towards the one-day World Cup. “Yeah, it was disappointing. Obviously, it was great to play in the tri-series. With the view towards the World Cup, the ability to be able to bounce between games, and different tactics, and different oppositions was good. We obviously didn’t quite achieve what we wanted to, but we played some really good cricket and learned some great lessons. “I like to focus on what’s coming and I think this is a very different side. This is a different form of the game. “I loved the four years that I had with the Test team. It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had in the game and I’m forever grateful for the chance. But the good thing is, I get the opportunity to try, alongside Brookie (Harry Brook) and some key people, to help shape the one-day side and the T20 side moving forward. And that’s very much where my focus is,” he added.
With 12 months to go into a World Cup, it’s a great opportunity to zero in and laser your focus on exactly where you think the areas are that you can get some improvement into these guys. They should hold you in good stead in 12 months,” he said.
And winning a World Cup would be amazing, but we know we’re going to have to get better between now and then,” McCullum said. We know we need to keep getting better, but we’ve been presented with some good opportunities, and this will be one of those the next couple of weeks,” he said. The Test stuff, I had a great time while I was there, but my focus is very much on trying to make this cricket team the very best team that we can be, and to challenge seriously for trophies,” he said.
