England need to improve on showing humility to not lose touch with people, admits head coach McCullum
England's all-format head coach Brendon McCullum has asked his players for more humility and awareness when making comments to the media. The Kiwi acknowledged the necessary shift in mindset for results but emphasized on the need to differentiate between locker room talk and outside messaging.
England are slated for a big year in Test cricket with a big five-match home Test series coming up against India, followed by the Ashes Down Under towards the fag end of the year. The season starts with a one-off four-day Test against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge from May 22 and could go on to define the legacy of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum as the country's Test skipper and head coach respectively.
It will be the second time the Three Lions play their fellow 'Big Three' rivals in Test cricket under the tenure of these two, albeit their role at the helm was limited to just the fifth Test versus India in 2022 where an emphatic victory helped level the series 2-2. The Ashes in England in 2023 had produced a similar scoreline, underlining a largely positive start to the Ben-Baz leadership era. Add a 3-0 demolition of New Zealand to begin the term as well as a whitewash of Pakistan in their backyard, all while scoring runs at unprecedented rates as a unit, and all indicators seemed to be trending upwards.
However, the downturn began soon after as they lost 4-1 in India at the start of 2024 and then spurned a series lead to succumb 2-1 to Pakistan later in the year. With the on-field failures also came unsavory comments in the press, whether be it banking on 'moral victories' when the actual scoreline does not represent victory or Ben Duckett taking credit for Yashasvi Jaiswal's aggressive approach up top.
"If we look at it at the start, people were excited by the way we played. They were enthralled by the freewheeling type of cricket and they felt - I'm guessing here - a sense of belonging to that type of group," McCullim was quoted saying on the eve of the Zimbabwe Test by Cricbuzz.
"With a bit of idle time, we get the opportunity to retrospectively look at things and see where things have been over the last few years, where we've come from, what we've achieved, opportunities we've let slip, and also looking at what we've done for the people that this team represents."
During his entire tenure, Stokes has shed light on the need for an optimistic team environment where risk-taking is encouraged, but McCullum believes some words should remain limited to the dressing room.
"We've just got to be a bit smarter with some of our comments. What we say in that dressing room is often very different to what you expect to come out in a public forum. We've just got to be aware of that, smart enough to be able to make sure that we articulate things when we get the opportunity so that we don't we don't lose touch with the English people," the head coach expressed.
"It's not just about what you do on the cricket field. It's how you carry yourself. It's how you interact with the public. It's the messaging that you give. The ability these guys have to be able to play on the biggest stage, under the brightest lights and the pressure is one thing, but also the ability to be humble and show some humility and not feel out of touch with the general population is something I'd like to see us improve on."
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