It is two years since Brendon McCullum, freshly appointed as coach of England’s Test team, said he had pursued that job over a similar one with the white-ball side because in limited-overs cricket “the team is flying” and “I wasn’t interested in a cushy kind of gig”. With that position vacant once more after the sacking of Matthew Mott, it is safe to say that nobody will be turning it down for similar reasons this time.
The team are underperforming, ageing and overdue a comprehensive overhaul. The good news is that this is as close as you can get to the ideal time for one: after three World Cups in less than two years there is now a gap when the only international tournament is the Champions Trophy, a second‑tier event scheduled to be played in Pakistan in early 2025, before three World Cups and the sport’s Olympic return are crowbarred into two and a half years between February 2026 and October 2028.
