McCullum vows to keep ‘firm grip’ on England players after ‘mistakes’ during winter tours | England cricket team

Brendon McCullum has vowed to use “a firm grip” to stamp out problems with alcohol and attitude among the England squad, admitting “some mistakes were made” by his players during last winter’s tours of New Zealand and Australia.

In his first interview since returning to England for the start of the international summer, with the first Test against New Zealand starting next Thursday at Lord’s, McCullum admitted his team had proven unable to handle the pressure of an away Ashes series.

He also admitted there had been “differences of opinion” with his Test captain, Ben Stokes, a player whose enjoyment of the game “might have waned a little bit when we were in Australia”.

But despite calls for his sacking following the team’s failures in the winter, the 44-year-old has insisted he will be able to deliver the improvement England need to not only win against this summer’s red-ball opponents New Zealand and Pakistan, but also important series against India and Australia. McCullum was “confident that our best cricket is ahead of us” and that he was “determined to try and make this cricket team a better version of what we are today”.

Speaking to the England and Wales Cricket Board in a interview that was published On his website, McCullum emphasized to his team that “the culture of this group is fundamentally very good,” but admitted that there were instances where this culture fell apart.

“You’re raising young men, they’re in an environment where there’s a lot of pressure, there’s a lot of distractions,” he said. “They are young boys growing up on the world stage under the brightest lights and sometimes they are going to make mistakes.

“Ultimately, your job as the leader of the organization is to make sure we don’t make these mistakes because they’re not helpful. In an ideal world, they would never happen. It’s not always an ideal world. We’re just going to make sure we take care of these guys, while also using a firm grip every now and then to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again.”

McCullum said there had been no clear discussions with Stokes since the winter because “there was nothing to clear the air about”, but the pair had had occasional disagreements. “There will always be disagreements, and that’s healthy,” he said. “In my opinion, this is how the best leaders work: they clash with each other. In our own way we try to figure out how we can sharpen this so that we become a better team.”

Stokes said the experience of the 4-1 Ashes defeat in England “hurts and sucks”, but McCullum said his captain had recovered from leading his team through a period of hugely disappointing failure. “There are times when he doesn’t do everything right. No captain ever does that,” he said.

“Sometimes it can be quite a lonely place. You just have to make sure you always lean on the people around you who are there to support you and help you. Stokesy will relish the opportunity he has in front of him and we will see him play with the real enjoyment he has had over the years, which may have diminished a bit when we were in Australia.”

Jacob Bethell is expected to be fit for the clash against New Zealand, although the injured finger that forced him out of the Indian Premier League is still being monitored and seen as a key part of what is, if not a new, certainly a retooled squad.

“I hope you’ll see a lot of the things you’ve seen before, with just a little bit of refinement, a little bit of sharpening,” McCullum said. “I think you’ll see a team playing bravely when it has to, and playing smart when it has to. A team that identifies moments where games can be won or lost and is able to win more of those than not.”

“I would like us to become a team that is feared by the opponents, not only because of our knockout, but also because of our ability to punch. If we can do that, and we can box smart in any situation, under any conditions and against any opposition, and handle the pressure when the pressure is at its highest, then we will achieve ultimate success.”