England Test cricket coach in-tray: Brendon McCullum's successor needs to find a captain, replace Ben Stokes, cut the boozing escapades - and win
Sam Curran and Rehan Ahmed contenders to replace Ben Stokes as Test all-rounder, but new coach also needs to find successor as captain and there are not too many options; how red-ball supremo works with white-ball boss Brendon McCullum will be vital as success targeted in all forms
Wednesday 15 July 2026 12:30, UK
As England work out who they want as their new Test coach following Brendon McCullum's sacking, we look at the jobs on the next red-ball supremo's to-do list…
Pick a captain
Ben Stokes' shock - and extravagant, considering it came at 3.25pm while he was midway through a bowling spell - retirement from international cricket means England need a captain to lead them post-Bazball.
Harry Brook is probably the frontrunner. The current Test vice-captain and white-ball skipper has just guided England to a 4-0 T20 series win over India that moved them top of the T20I rankings and appears to have a pretty sharp cricketing mind a lot of the time.
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However, the new coach and powers that be must decide whether Brook is ready for such a consuming role - he was overlooked as stand-in leader for the Oval Test against New Zealand after the Stokes nightclub saga having become embroiled in nightclub drama of his own in New Zealand before an ODI last winter.
If Brook is the man, then the next question is whether he can captain in all three forms amid such a packed fixture schedule? If not, then will he ditch one or both of the white-ball jobs - and how will limited-overs coach McCullum feel about that?
It's all a bit complicated…
Test-captaincy candidates, besides Brook, currently in the team are probably limited to going back to Root - who deputised for Stokes versus New Zealand - or going bold and promoting Jacob Bethell. Options outside the team are even slimmer. Ollie Pope, at a push?
With that in mind, it is perhaps incumbent on the new Test coach to help bring on future leaders as well as select one now to take England into a winter tour of South Africa and then the home Ashes next summer.
You wonder if Stokes may receive a call…
Work with white-ball coach McCullum
While splitting the roles between red and white-ball cricket will allow complete focus on one format for each coach - and therefore reduce the risk of burnout - England's two head honchos will need a strong relationship for it to work.
There is that potential tug-of-war over Brook as captain, while neither McCullum nor the Test supremo will be eager to lose their best players to the other too often.
McCullum has said that "robust" conversations will take place with the Test coach in order to "achieve harmony and success" for English cricket, which can probably be read along the lines of: "I won't be asset stripped."
Test cricket, with that home Ashes in a year's time, is clearly the priority, hence why McCullum was relieved of his red-ball duties following the malaise he oversaw.
But he will not want that to damage England's excellent T20 form or his objectives of fixing an ODI side languishing eighth in the rankings and winning the 2027 50-over World Cup.
England fans crave success on all fronts - there has been no global white-ball trophy since 2022, no Ashes win since 2015 - and the coaches must align to make that possible.
Fix the boozing and off-field indiscipline
England have had more drink-related incidents than their Test side has had wins of late, with Brook's scrap with a bouncer in New Zealand - for which he was fined £30k - Ben Duckett seemingly intoxicated during a pilloried beach break in Noosa between Ashes Tests and then Stokes and Gus Atkinson's curfew-breaking, headline-making trip to a Chelsea nightspot.
How clear the curfew was remains, well, unclear (did Stokes and Atkinson believe it no longer applied with the duo venturing out after a Test not during one?) and that is another black mark that can be labelled against this team: lack of attention to detail.
We saw that in their Ashes preparation, with just one warm-up game prior to the Perth Test - and not a particularly useful one at that, in that it was played on a docile surface at Lilac Hill that in no way matched the bouncy deck they would come up against at Optus Stadium. And we all know what then happened there…
Batters out driving on the up ad nauseum as England threw away a golden position. Assistant coach Marcus Trescothick would later say there were no discussions about playing those shots on these surfaces. Really?!
Andy Flower, seen by many as the outstanding candidate for the Test role, may no longer be the "mood hoover" he was once described as by Kevin Pietersen during his previous spell in charge - franchise gigs appear to have loosened him up - but discipline is one of his key assets, so you sense the drinking and general doziness would stop on his watch.
It needs to stop on whoever's watch.
Replace Stokes and nail best XI
Stokes' departure - unless he can indeed be lured back - not only deprives England of a talismanic captain but also a gun all-rounder, even if his batting form tapered off in the back end of his Test career with just one hundred since the 2023 Ashes.
There is no easy fix here, although Sam Curran is a seam-bowling all-rounder option - his left-arm angle may be useful - while Rehan Ahmed offers a spin-bowling one. Leg-spinner Ahmed's inclusion at No 7 could allow England to play four frontline quicks.
Most of the batting spots look locked in: Bethell at No 3, Root at No 4, Brook at No 5 and possibly, after a timely ton versus New Zealand, Duckett as one opener. Duckett's top-order accomplice is maybe not so certain with Emilio Gay hitting two fifties against the Kiwis but tailing off thereafter. Other county openers will feel they have a chance.
The same will apply for spinners with the two men who made Shoaib Bashir their pet project, Stokes and McCullum, no longer around. Bashir has potential, no doubt, but the new Test coach may want someone with more tangible stats behind them. Jack Leach, perhaps?
Jamie Smith could also be sweating on his spot as wicketkeeper-batter. After a lean Ashes, he did not fare outstandingly against New Zealand, albeit his replacement at The Oval while he was on paternity leave, James Rew, toiled with bat and gloves during a sobering debut.
Win matches and big series
Of all the objectives on the coach's to-do list, this is right at the top of it.
The end of the Bazball era saw just three wins from the final 12 matches, while the whole of the Bazball era saw no series victories over Australia and India - the contests on which England are judged - with 2-2 draws at home to those sides and 4-1 batterings away.
Whoever takes charge should not abandon every Bazball principle as attacking, in-your-face cricket got England into a number of match-winning positions over the last four years - only for the players to get too amped up and then chuck those positions away by not reining themselves in. See Lord's 2023, Rajkot 2024 and Perth 2025 as prime examples.
The task is to cut out the brainless bits and make sure refinement and responsibility come when games are in the palm of England's hands, as while English fans obviously enjoy entertaining cricket, they love winning cricket even more.
And they love winning against Australia more than anything. That opportunity arises again next summer, which makes this coaching appointment crucial.
