It’s not like football – ECB defends sticking with Ashes leadership team

The England and Wales Cricket Board has defended its decision to back the leadership team that oversaw this winter’s Ashes surrender, insisting the future of Brendon McCullum and Rob Key could not be settled by a football-style “popularity campaign”.

The governing body promised a “thorough review” in the wake of the resounding 4-1 defeat Down Under, a tour plagued by criticisms of sloppy preparation, excessive drinking and selection mistakes, but has concluded evolution under McCullum as head coach and Key as managing director is preferable to swinging the axe.

A 4-0 loss in Australia four years earlier saw both predecessors – Chris Silverwood and Ashley Giles – pay with their jobs and there has been a considerable appetite for similar action among sections of the support.

But ECB chief executive Richard Gould – son of the former Wales and Wimbledon manager Bobby Gould and formerly CEO of Bristol City – insisted football’s hire-and-fire culture was not a useful model.

Asked directly about McCullum’s position, which sees him earn over £1million a year and runs for another 18 months, Gould said “a lot of consideration” had been put in to keeping the same personnel.

“Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership…it’s not like football where there’s a single point of failure or success with a manager,” he said.

“We do keep a very close eye on all of our supporters, we have a variety of different means and it’s not just through the formal media that we do that, but neither are we going to select or deselect management based on a popularity campaign.

“My old man was a football manager: sacking was part of the job. It didn’t necessarily do the right thing. Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That’s not the route that we’re going to take.

“I’ve seen the driving ambition and determination that we’re lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward. I think what we’ve seen is a determination from all those involved to adapt and evolve, to understand that there are different ways of doing things.

“We’ve got a lot of people hurt by what went on during the Ashes, but equally determined to now put things right and looking forward to seeking revenge in 2027.”

The ECB has already implemented some changes. Fielding coach Carl Hopkinson and Australian fast bowling guru Troy Cooley have been re-hired on permanent contracts and planning for major Test series is being given stricter guidelines.

A midnight curfew is also here to stay in a bid to curb recent excesses, such as white-ball captain Harry Brook’s involvement in an alcohol-fuelled altercation with a nightclub bouncer during the pre-Ashes tour of New Zealand which cost him around £30,000 and very nearly his job.

“There were certainly some instances, and particularly the one that we dealt with in New Zealand, which we regarded as significantly unprofessional and we took action at that particular time,” Gould confirmed.

“We want to give people the opportunity and the freedom to make their own decisions, but sometimes we also need to provide them with more strict parameters to work with them.”

Key scotched suggestions that a serious rift had developed between McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, who appeared at times to be giving very different messages in Australia.

“There’s never been a moment where they’ve had a massive bust-up. It’s never been an issue,” he said.

“Ben’s way is probably slightly more conservative to Brendon’s, and that’s absolutely fine. I’m probably somewhere in the middle.

“I know people want punishment, and from what it looks like people should be sacked for that…but I wouldn’t underestimate some of the pain that we’ve been through. It’s heartbreaking.

“For Brendon, myself, Ben… it’s been as tough a time as I think I’ve had. You try anything you can to plough on as best you can but it’s not easy, but this is the gig. You don’t do these jobs to be the most popular person in the world. You do it to try and make a difference.”