Former England captain Nasser Hussain feels that the appointment of Brendon McCullum as the England Test coach is a “bold, brave, exciting” decision. At the same time, Hussain pointed out that McCullum and skipper Ben Stokes must “challenge each other” to revive England’s fortune in Test cricket.
On Thursday, McCullum, the former New Zealand captain who has worked majorly as a white-ball coach in T20 franchise cricket, was handed the job of England’s Test coach. His first assignment will be England’s three-match home Test against New Zealand, the current World Test Championship (WTC) winners, in June.
“It’s a bold, brave, exciting decision. It’s a little bit left field, I think most people expected maybe a Brendon McCullum type to come into the white-ball team and work with his mate Eoin Morgan and possibly somebody with more experience in red-ball cricket like a Gary Kirsten come in for the Test match format,” said Hussain on Sky Sports.
“But Rob Key sees it differently, I think both Stokes and McCullum are cut from the same cloth and Key has that sort of idea that he wants a positive captain and positive coach taking the team in a new direction and McCullum definitely fits that bill,” added Hussain.
With McCullum coming on board as England’s Test coach, Hussain is eager to see how the impact of him and captain Ben Stokes at the helm will pan out for the Test side.
“That captain-coach relationship they do have to sing off the same hymn sheet, they have to both constantly be working together. They also have to challenge each other, I’ll be perfectly honest. It’s not a case of Stokes and McCullum always agreeing with each other. It’s also how you describe positive cricket really, it’s not reckless cricket.”
Hussain now hopes that England start to win Test matches as the race for reaching the final of the second cycle of WTC heats up, with the Stokes-led side at the bottom of the table.
“I nearly picked Rob Key up on this the other day, he talked about the brand of cricket, he wants England to play a positive brand of cricket, I think England fans and myself want to see England play a winning brand of cricket.”
“However, that’s done, go out and start winning Test matches. If it is positive and exciting, double bonus. But winning is the most important thing. I think it’s hugely exciting, to have Stokes as your captain, McCullum as your coach, it will be a very exciting few months and years ahead.”
(Inputs from IANS)