Rob Key insists Brendon McCullum is the best man to continue leading England – but admits he has no idea what the ECB have planned after their miserable defeat in the Ashes.
The tour, hyped as a legacy-defining project, led to a familiar bout of soul-searching for the English game after three successive defeats in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.
The urn may already be gone, but with two Tests still remaining, starting with the Boxing Day match in Melbourne, England still have a chance to restore some pride.
Failure to do so could jeopardize Key’s jobs, including his role as managing director of men’s cricket. McCullum has already announced his intention to stay and Key, who appointed him Test coach in 2022, remains in his corner.
“Brendon is an outstanding coach.” Key said. sky sports cricket Podcast. “A lot of it is our fault. It’s always been important to put pressure on the bowlers and absorb them, but we haven’t done well enough, whether against India in the summer or now.”
“Brendon’s track record as a coach is great. When you compare him to other coaches, we haven’t won any big series, but all these things we talk about, should we evolve, adapt, change and get better? Of course we will.
“Do I think he’s the person to do it? If he’s as ready as I am, he’s the right person. Brendan is a very resilient person. I’ve never seen anything in him that he doesn’t want to do it.
“When you go on this tour or when you lose an Ashes series in Australia, half the team doesn’t like the captain and the other half doesn’t like the coach. That doesn’t happen at all on this tour. They’ve kept their players incredibly well, considering everything that’s happened so far. But should we improve? Of course.”
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Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain reminisce about day five of the third Test when England’s Ashes fate was sealed as Australia won by 82 runs.
With the four-year review cycle used as a barometer for the UK’s success and progress, Key acknowledged Australia’s series of whitewashes may leave the ECB with no choice but to undergo a fundamental review. No one will be immune to this review, not even himself.
“There is no doubt this is happening,” he added. “This is the decision of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB): whether to tear things up and start over again. This happens in politics where you go one way and you go the other.
“As a management group we need to get better and develop, and they need to decide if we are the right people for that.
“What I would say in the case of Brendon (McCullum) and Ben (Stokes) is that they have been very good. If you look at everything they have done under the most thorough scrutiny over the last three or four years, they have done a brilliant job for English cricket.
“As long as they are ready to progress they should stay that way and the ECB can decide what they want to do with it.”
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Ben Stokes reacts after England’s loss to Australia in the third Test in the Ashes.
A wider assessment of where England went wrong will surely follow in the new year, but Key has already identified some errors.
He admitted there was not enough time to prepare for such a big series, which included a white-ball trip to New Zealand and just one intra-squad warm-up match at the club ground.
“There’s a difference between planning and planning poorly,” Key said. “The idea that we were underprepared is not true. It’s hard to say we were right because it obviously didn’t work, but let me explain why.”
“There were T20s and white-ball series in New Zealand. It was very important for everyone to know what kind of team this is, what kind of team we are and how we prepare. Nothing was different and we would prepare like anywhere. But it didn’t work.
“We went to Lilac Hill knowing the conditions couldn’t replicate what we would face, but there’s nowhere else but WACA or Optus Stadium that could replicate those conditions. That was the idea behind it. We felt it would be good enough to prepare us for a Test match, but it didn’t work.”
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Rob Key believes England do not have a drinking culture within the team after being criticized for the break against Noosa between the second and third Ashes Tests.
England were also criticized for resting at Noosa between the second and third Tests, and were claimed to have resembled a “hart” from excessive drinking. Key doesn’t believe there is a drinking culture within the group, but admits it would be unacceptable if the situation got to that point.
“We live in a world where you pick up your phone and it’s about cricket every day,” he said. “I think it’s very important for the players to be away from scrutiny and the spotlight. That was the whole plan of the Noosa trip, so they could run away and throw their phones in the bin and not get submerged.
“But it’s a good balance, and if it seems like it ends with a frisky stag, that’s unacceptable. I don’t like the drinking culture. I don’t drink at all.”
Asked whether he was confident there was no drinking culture within the England squad, Key responded: “We’ve put in extra security and made sure the players aren’t getting hammered at all times. From what I’ve seen so far, that’s not the case. But if that’s the case, it’s unacceptable.”
Ashes series 2025-26 in Australia
Australia took the lead for the fifth straight game, 3-0.
