Brendon McCullum expects low-key white-ball tour of Australia

Brendon McCullum is expecting more of a low-key visit to Australia for England’s white-ball tour this month after last winter’s turbulent Ashes defeat.

Hounded by the media from the moment they arrived Down Under 12 months ago, England’s off-field behaviour, especially during a boozy mid-series trip to Noosa, came under intense scrutiny.

Captain Ben Stokes clashed with a local journalist after being photographed with team-mates Mark Wood and Jamie Smith riding through the Brisbane streets on an e-scooter without a mandatory safety helmet.

McCullum has since been deposed as England Test head coach but remains in charge of the the limited-overs sides and will arrive in Australia on Monday for three one-day internationals and five T20s.

Asked whether he expects a quieter trip this time around, McCullum told the Press Association: “White-ball tours are probably a little bit different to the Ashes.

“The last tour was what the last tour was. For us, this is a completely different form of the game, it’s a different challenge and our focus is on trying to get results out in Australia.

“Our boys are excited to get there. We’re excited to test ourselves in different conditions against a good side and try and implement stuff that we’ve learned from this tri-series (in Pakistan).

“We know we’ve got to keep learning and improving if we’re to be realistic challengers (for the 50-over World Cup) in 12 months’ time and Australia will be another good test, it’s a good place to play cricket.”

McCullum nodded his head when asked whether the Australia trip will be a better gauge of where England are at ahead of the World Cup in southern Africa after toiling on Pakistan’s flat pitches.

He said: “I think the pitches here have been very contrasting to what we’ll probably expect in South Africa. But they’ve been good for different reasons.

“Our young, inexperienced bowlers, they’ll struggle to find harder conditions to operate in, so they would have learnt enormously from the experience out here.”

England will welcome back batting all-rounder Jacob Bethell from a knee injury while Jofra Archer is also set to return after being rested from the tri-series in Pakistan, also involving Sri Lanka.

While England won just one of four matches and ignominiously missed out on the final, openers Ben Duckett and Tom Banton impressed to leave questions over where Bethell would slot back into the side.

McCullum said: “It’s a nice place to be. It’s not just the openers, there’s other places where guys have put their hand up and they’re challenging for spots.

“In 12 months’ time, we’ve got a World Cup and there’s only 15 players that are able to make the squad. There’s a lot of competition for places and we’ll see where we land.”

Jos Buttler remains unavailable after undergoing an operation on his hamstring and the wicketkeeper-batter revealed recently he is a doubt to play in England’s three ODIs against South Africa in January.

Buttler, widely-regarded as England’s greatest ever white-ball batter, may therefore not play an international game until next September – one month before their World Cup campaign gets under way.

But McCullum added: “Jos is a once in a generation white-ball player, he’s the ultimate professional as well.

“He’ll be fully committed to his rehab and he’ll be really starting to think how he gets better because that’s his mindset. When he’s fit and ready to come back, we’ll look forward to seeing him.”