The diagnosis after England’s Test team hit rock bottom during that wretched Ashes winter of 2021-22 was a pretty shrewd one by Rob Key. Newly hired as director of men’s cricket, Key recognised that the players, good enough but grossly underperforming, had been ground down by the pandemic and its joyless treadmill of fixture fulfilment.
In came Brendon McCullum as the antipodean antidote to their negativity on and off the field. He was not a technical hire – although he analyses more information than the golf-bro image suggests – rather a relentlessly positive one who would double down on the aggressive outlook of Ben Stokes, his new captain, and not meet fire with ice.
