Andrew Strauss says sacking Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes is not the answer
England have lost 16 and drawn just two of their last 18 Tests Down Under.
Sir Andrew Strauss, the last England captain to win an away Ashes series 15 years ago, has warned removing Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes will not be enough to change a “depressingly one-sided story” in Australia.
Strauss led a remarkable 3-1 triumph in 2010-11 but the trail has gone stone cold ever since, with England losing 16 and drawing just two of the last 18 Tests Down Under.
The heat is now on McCullum as head coach, while Stokes may find it hard to stay if their current 3-0 predicament becomes a 5-0 whitewash.
But Strauss has urged those within the game to look beyond the short-term fix of firing and hiring.
In the aftermath of England’s previous defeat in Australia, a 4-0 loss in 2021-22, he was employed by the England and Wales Cricket Board to conduct a high-performance review into the domestic game.
His eventual report made numerous suggestions, including cutting the number of first-class matches and restructuring the County Championship divisions and focusing on incentivising elite player development, but they were largely thrown out by the counties themselves.
Although he made no reference to the review in a wide-ranging post on the social network LinkedIn, he appears to be arguing for a fresh look at such proposals.
Strauss wrote: “So there it is, another ambitious set of England cricketers made the journey to Australia, full of hope and optimism only for their dreams to come crashing down around them after only 11 days of cricket.
“McCullum and Stokes and will come under extreme scrutiny for the decisions they took in preparation for this tour in the same way that (Ashley) Giles and (Chris) Silverwood did after the last tour. And Andy Flower after 2013-14 and Duncan Fletcher after 2006/07.
“While they will know that this goes with the territory, none of the above are responsible for England losing so incredibly consistently in Australia since 1986-87. We have been badly mauled time after time over there because Australia are a better team, served by a better high performance system.
“If we are genuinely serious about changing this depressingly one-sided story, then we need to look beyond sacking England coaches and captains and ask whether we are genuinely willing to make the changes necessary to break the trend.”
Strauss served as director of cricket at the ECB after retiring and later acted as a strategic advisor to the board, parting ways in May 2023 after his reforms were rejected.
