ECB Managing Director Rob Key discusses England’s Ashes disappointment, how Brendon McCullum can improve and whether there is a drinking problem in the team after Harry Brook’s incident in Wellington.
It comes after confirmation that McCollum will remain in charge despite England’s 4-1 defeat to Australia this winter.
Key answers questions from Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton in a wide-ranging interview on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.
Why did England lose The Ashes?
“We had a bowling attack that was really inexperienced for the situations they were in. In Brisbane we got to a point where we were getting decent scores, not good scores. We were getting decent scores, but we couldn’t get ourselves into a position where our bowlers weren’t in enough rhythm and form to put their best foot forward. The same was true for the batsmen in Perth.
“We are working hard to ensure that we are in top condition for next time. It would be unfair to say that most of our players are out of shape and not strong and ready for the rigors of international cricket, certainly international cricket, but there have been a few instances where we have had players who have been out of form for too long.
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ECB Managing Director Rob Key speaks to Sky Sports about why he thinks Brendon McCullum is the right person to lead the England cricket team and how he is coping with the fallout from last winter’s Ashes defeat.
“You’re expecting them to find their form and be pretty much okay for the night. They weren’t, so you’re going to try and correct all of that.
“The rigors of international Ashes cricket make it tougher than ever, and I think a lot of the players weren’t ready for what was coming, especially when the game returned. Those are things we’ll try to put right next time.”
Key’s toughest three months – why layoffs aren’t the answer
“If the responsibility was purely looting, I wouldn’t underestimate what we went through. And again, I’m not saying there are people who are in a much worse situation.
“It’s a privileged position, but these three months have been difficult. I feel like I’ve achieved everything you strive for in my career, if not in my life, and then it’s not working out.
“And above all, you have to face hard truths. So it’s hard to argue that you’re responsible if firing people is the only way to do it. But I don’t actually think that’s the only way.
“That doesn’t mean, Brandon, Ben, that everything we’ve tried hasn’t worked. And like I said, you’re very rightly blamed. From that moment on, it’s not easy to accept. So I feel like the account has gone through our own version of it from a liability perspective.”
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ECB chief executive Richard Gould has defended his decision to back the leadership team of Brendon McCullum and Rob Key who oversaw this winter’s Ashes defeat.
How can McCullum evolve?
“I think we both actually believe that we have placed enormous value on loyalty and having a stable team that performs well for its players. The problem now is that we have swung it too far.
“There’s a lack of consequences for underperformance. When people have to keep scoring runs or not taking wickets, there’s a lack of results. And that becomes part of that culture. We have to be more ruthless in what we do, more ruthless in some of the choices we’ve made. The reason we’ve done that is because we place enormous value on a settled team going to the Ashes.
“Now we’re in a new phase where it’s like, ‘Okay, now we need these guys to be decent run-scorers.’ You still want guys who can put pressure on the bowlers, but you actually have to go out there and turn those 70s into 150s and 200-match winning contributions.
“If Brendon McCullum wants to be a completely different coach or do everything in a completely different way, of course we don’t want him to do that. It might be better to hire another coach. Brendon McCullum was a very good player and good players don’t develop and don’t adapt and get into that position. That’s what we want from him.
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Nasser Hussain doubles down on England’s decision-making and missed opportunity to beat Australia in Ashes series.
“I thought that was the case with the way the team played in Sri Lanka. There is only one way of playing in Bazball and if you try to play like that on a spinning pitch in Sri Lanka, you can’t do that. If you look at the way we walked in the Champions Trophy, we all lacked pace and we thought that was the way it was. Then we tried to spin to try and come up with a different style of play that could adapt to those conditions and I thought they did. They did a great job.
“I don’t want him to be another coach. I just want us to be a better team than we’ve ever been and to develop into that team. He always wanted a team that could adapt.
“Every time I talk to him, I always think, ‘How do we get to the point where we want a ruthless player?’ You don’t want someone to come in and play with a completely different style. You want a player who can still not only survive but score runs against the best bowlers in the world, because you don’t have anywhere else to do that. But once they get the chance, you want them to go and be persistent and score as many runs as they can.”
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Ricky Ponting insists England’s coaching blueprint can make England Ashes contenders in 2027.
Is there a drinking problem in the UK?
“I don’t think they have a drinking problem. I don’t think it’s fair to put everyone in that category. I think the majority of those players are incredibly diligent and will do everything they can to maximize their potential and do as well as they can for England.”
“Like a lot of teams, there are two or three players who might be irresponsible with their alcohol if given the opportunity. What we’re trying to do is try to find that happy medium.
“They’re not drinking to get away from the game. Cricket is different from many other sports, especially international cricket. When you’re away for a whole year, you’re almost away, even if you’re playing at home.
“The stress and scrutiny on these multi-format players is difficult. So can we get better? Do we have to keep evolving? To be honest, I think the game does, and that’s not a problem I can solve on my own. We have to be able to create opportunities and situations for these players to make the right decisions.
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Harry Brook admits he is lucky to still remain England’s white-ball captain after an altercation with a nightclub bouncer the night before a match, adding that supporters have every right to be annoyed by his behavior.
“We can take away the temptation, but like I said, it’s about finding the sweet spot in the middle. We treat them too hard, like kids, so they rebel in one direction. For the most part, this team is trying to trust them as much as we can, and they’ve made good decisions.
“The Harry Brook-Wellington incident has obviously hit us hard and not particularly hit us as hard as Harry. He’s not the first person to do that and he probably won’t be the last, but I’m hoping that’s what makes him. Going back to that decision, we’ve talked about a lot of things I’ve read and seen, we’ve discussed all of that.
“We think Harry Brook made a terrible mistake, but he came to us and Harry had a very clean slate up to that point. Before this Wellington thing started, Harry Brook was committed to England cricket. He said, ‘No, I don’t want to go to the IPL. I’m going to be banned for three years because I want to do what’s best for England cricket and my England cricket career.’ “It’s a decision we made.”
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England white-ball cricket captain Harry Brook has tried his hand at baseball and hit a practice home run with the Philadelphia Phillies. Credit: MLB Europe
Is England interested in country cricket?
“If people think that – if they think England doesn’t care about county cricket – then we need to build bridges. If that’s the perception, that’s what we need to do. “In this job, I’ve always tried not to be the guy who moans about county cricket, the guy who sits around and criticizes county cricket.
“When we lose the Ashes, I’m not sitting here blaming county cricket. When I took over at the ECB, there was a lot of direction about how the game should be played in this country or what happens in county cricket. “There has now been a shift towards the county game deciding.
“As far as Brendan is concerned, it’s also not true that he’s not worried. But Brendan now works 12 months out of the year. He’s full-time now in both formats. The thing is, when he’s not in the series or on tour, which is tremendous cricket now, I want him to get away from that.
Brendon McCullum (left) continues as England manager alongside Rob Key, scoffing at any thoughts of a ‘big rupture’ between the New Zealander and Test captain Ben Stokes.
“I want him to be able to use the tools and not have to worry about anything else or our system as a whole. “The whole selection process we have is quite extensive, from the scouting system to the main team selection, what we will bring as a county, to what we call the County Insight Group.
“It’s good to have two coaches from the First Division and two coaches from the Second Division so they can be involved in our selections and when you play as a county player trying to get into the England team you know people are watching you, people are there.
“We cover every game and we pick people from county games, so I don’t agree with everything people say out there because we’re working hard to make sure that’s not true, but we’ve got to do better.”
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