Brendon McCullum, the head coach of the England men’s team, has also asked his players to show more maturity in their public comments. Since he took over as head coach of the Test team in 2022, McCullum and captain Ben Stokes have redefined England’s approach with a highly aggressive style of play, and they also won 10 games in the first 11 Tests.

However, with time, England’s batting plans failed miserably, more so in overseas Tests, where some poor phases of play cost them. Besides criticism for the batters’ lack of adaptability, they’ve also faced criticism for the way players have reacted to the losses in public. And, McCullum is aware of it but said that such comments don’t necessarily reflect the team’s overall outlook as well.

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“We’ve just got to be a bit smarter with some of our comments,” McCullum said. “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.”

However, England team combinations and tactics haven’t always worked, but McCullum expects them to tie up the loose ends soon as well.

“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. 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.”

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Brendon McCullum also underlined the importance of personality development in the team as well. He also maintains that the success on the cricket field remains a priority, but he also wants the players to do well in terms of their engagement with the public as well.

“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,” Brendon McCullum concluded.