Ben Stokes was pleasantly surprised by the appointment of Brendon McCullum as England’s coach in the limited-overs format. Previously, he had taken over as the head of the Three Lions’ Test team from Chris Silverwood in October 2022. After Matthew Mott’s resignation post England’s campaign in the T20 World Cup 2024, McCullum has now become responsible for both ODI and T20I teams.
McCullum and Stokes have contributed immensely towards forming a style that is unique to England in terms of Test cricket. According to Stokes, the white-ball team can learn so much from McCullum.
“I was very surprised by the news. Firstly I think it’s an unbelievably good move for English cricket to go back to having one coach for all the teams,” Stokes told ESPNcricinfo about what Baz had achieved with Tests in particular.
“I am really looking forward to working with Baz on the white-ball team, listening to him speak, his opinions. How his outlook on life reflects cricket if that makes sense,” stated Stokes.
According to Stokes, McCullum is someone that Jos Buttler would ‘really enjoy’ having as a mentor. In addition, he thought that it was important for the young players in England’s one-day team to work closely with McCullum because they could learn so much from him
“I believe this will be extremely beneficial for Jos as he really wants his guidance when playing international cricket. Looking at the new players coming into the limited overs set-up, they couldn’t have someone better than him to start off their careers at that level,” Stokes also said.
At present, England is leading their Test series against Sri Lanka by two matches to none; therefore, the last Test match will be held on September 6 at Kennington Oval, London.
