England trained at Lord’s for the first time under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes ahead of Thursday’s First Test against New Zealand.
Having arrived in the country on Thursday and met up with the players on Sunday night, McCullum addressed the team in the home dressing room on Monday morning for the first time.
McCullum was appointed to coach the Test team only earlier this month, with Australian Matthew Mott entrusted with the white-ball teams by the new Managing Director Rob Key.
McCullum is being supported in this series by familiar coaching staff in Paul Collingwood, Jon Lewis, Marcus Trescothick, Jeetan Patel and James Foster.
McCullum said when he was unveiled on Friday that he would not be a “technical coach”, and he spent most of the session getting to know his players, rather doing hands-on coaching.
A number of England’s players were turning out for their counties in the Vitality Blast yesterday, including Joe Root, who has his first game back in the ranks after five years as captain.
The new era begins with eight fast bowlers injured, meaning England have just won real selection decision to make this week, whether Craig Overton or the uncapped Matty Potts join James Anderson and Stuart Broad in the attack.
Of those eight, Ollie Robinson’s run of poor fortune has continued as he tested positive for Covid-19, which will prevent the medical team from assessing his back until he has recovered.
