{"id":245455,"date":"2026-05-27T16:25:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T16:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/mccullum-vows-to-keep-firm-grip-on-england-players-after-mistakes-in-winter-tours\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T16:25:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T16:25:47","slug":"mccullum-vows-to-keep-firm-grip-on-england-players-after-mistakes-in-winter-tours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/mccullum-vows-to-keep-firm-grip-on-england-players-after-mistakes-in-winter-tours\/","title":{"rendered":"McCullum vows to keep \u2018firm grip\u2019 on England players after \u2018mistakes\u2019 in winter tours"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Brendon McCullum has promised to use \u201ca firm grip\u201d to eradicate issues with alcohol and attitude among the England squad, admitting that \u201cthere were some mistakes made\u201d by his players during last winter\u2019s tours of New Zealand and Australia.<\/p>\n

In his first interview since returning to England for the start of the international summer, with the first Test against New Zealand starting at Lord\u2019s next Thursday, McCullum conceded that his team had proved unable to handle the pressure of an away Ashes series.<\/p>\n

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He also admitted that there had been \u201cdifferences of opinion\u201d with his Test captain, Ben Stokes<\/a>, a player whose enjoyment in the game \u201cmay have just waned a little bit when we were in Australia\u201d.<\/p>\n

But despite calls for his removal after the team\u2019s winter failures, the 44-year-old insisted he will be able to inspire the improvement necessary for England to win not just against this summer\u2019s red-ball opponents, New Zealand and Pakistan, but also key series against India and Australia. McCullum was \u201cconfident that our best cricket is in front of us\u201d and that he was \u201cfiercely determined to try and make this cricket team a better version of what we are now\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the England and Wales Cricket Board in an interview that was published<\/a> on its website, McCullum insisted of his squad that \u201cfundamentally the culture of this group is really good\u201d, but conceded there had been occasions when it lapsed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re bringing up young men, they\u2019re in an environment where there is a lot of pressure, there\u2019s lots of distractions,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re young guys who are growing up on the world stage under the brightest lights and sometimes they\u2019re going to make mistakes.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Brendon McCullum with Ben Stokes. The England head coach aid there had been no clear-the-air discussions with his captain since the winter, because \u2018there was nothing to clear the air about\u2019.<\/span> Photograph: Robbie Stephenson\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cUltimately your job as the leader of the organisation is to try to make sure that we aren\u2019t making those mistakes because they\u2019re not helpful. In an ideal world they would never happen. It\u2019s not always an ideal world. We\u2019re just going to make sure that we\u2019re looking after these guys whilst also occasionally using a firm grip to ensure that we are not making those same mistakes again.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCullum said there had been no clear-the-air discussions with Stokes since the winter, because \u201cthere was nothing to clear the air about\u201d, but the pair had had occasional disagreements. \u201cThere will always be differences of opinion, and that\u2019s healthy,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s how in my opinion the best leaders work, they bounce off each other. In our own way, we\u2019re trying to work out how to sharpen this thing so we become a better side.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Stokes said the experience of England\u2019s 4-1 Ashes defeat \u201churts and sucks\u201d, but McCullum said his captain had recovered from leading his team through a period of hugely disappointing failure. \u201cThere\u2019s times when he doesn\u2019t get everything right. No captain ever does,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it can be quite a lonely place. You\u2019ve just got to make sure you\u2019re always leaning into those around you who are there to support you and to help you. Stokesy will relish the opportunity he\u2019s got in front of him and we\u2019ll see him play with that real enjoyment which he\u2019s had over the last few years, and which may have waned a little bit when we were in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacob Bethell is expected to be fit to face New Zealand, though the injured finger that forced him to leave the IPL continues to be monitored, and is seen as a key part of what is if not a new-look side, certainly a modified one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope you\u2019ll see a lot of the same stuff you\u2019ve seen previously, with just a little bit of refinement, a little bit of sharpening,\u201d McCullum said. \u201cI think you\u2019ll see a team play brave when it needs to, play smart when it needs to. A team which identifies moments where games can be won or lost and is able to win more of those than not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to see us just become a team that is feared by oppositions, not just for our knockout punch but our ability to jab as well. If we can do that, and we can box smart in any situation, in any conditions and against any opposition, and handle pressure when the pressure\u2019s at its highest, then we will get the ultimate success.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Brendon McCullum has promised to use \u201ca firm grip\u201d to eradicate issues with alcohol and attitude among the England squad, admitting that \u201cthere were some mistakes made\u201d by his players during last winter\u2019s tours of New Zealand and Australia. In his first interview since returning to England for the start of the international summer, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":245456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6803],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-245455","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}