The England and Wales Cricket Board is eager to avoid a mass clearout of England’s senior leadership in the wake of another humiliating away Ashes series defeat.
England’s hopes of winning the urn were expunged inside 11 days for just the fourth time in the contest’s 143-year history with Sunday’s 82-run defeat in Adelaide, and a fourth Ashes whitewash is on the cards in Melbourne and Sydney, unless the tourists can arrest a dismal 18-match run without a win in Australia that stretches back to 2011.
A full review of the tour’s planning and execution will take place following the final Test next month when jobs could be on the line, with Brendon McCullum’s position as head coach expected to come under the most scrutiny.
The Guardian has been told that the ECB do not want to repeat the mass cull that followed their 4-0 defeat in Australia four years ago, however, when coach Chris Silverwood and director of cricket Ashley Giles were sacked the following month, with Joe Root resigning as captain following another series defeat in the West Indies two months later.
While changes could still be made depending on the outcome of the rest of the tour, the ECB believes that mass sackings would be a mistake and leave England less well-placed to learn the lessons of the tour.
Rather than appointing a completely new leadership team, there is a desire at Lord’s to retain what one source described as some “institutional muscle memory” of an Ashes tour, which, given England’s dismal record of one series win since 1987, is in danger of appearing an insurmountable challenge.
McCullum is likely to be under the most scrutiny, as he is the architect of the ultra-positive Bazball approach that has been found wanting in Australian conditions, and he admitted following the defeat in Adelaide that their long-term planning for the tour had been inadequate.
For the first time McCullum conceded that a white ball tour of New Zealand and a single intra-squad warm-up match at Lilac Hill in Perth was insufficient preparation for the first Test, while he repeated his claim following the second Test that England trained too hard before the defeat in Brisbane.
McCullum’s position is complicated by the fact that in January he took on a dual role as England’s white-ball coach, with his contract running until the home Ashes series in 2027 and 50 over World Cup in South Africa the following autumn. While England’s white-ball record under McCullum is poor, with his side knocked out of the Champions Trophy without winning a game in February and losing a home one-day international series to South Africa in September, the fact that the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka begins on 7 February could earn him a reprieve.
Stokes said in the immediate aftermath of the Adelaide defeat that he “absolutely” wants to stay on as Test captain after the Ashes, which is likely to come as a relief to the ECB, who will certainly be desperate to retain his services as a player for as long as possible. The 34-year-old signed a new two-year central contract before the Ashes which will expire at the end of the 2027 World Cup.
Rob Key’s position as director of cricket will also be the subject of internal discussion given he appointed McCullum and wholeheartedly backed his attacking approach, as well as also giving him the white-ball job at the end of last year, which has not worked out.
The former Kent and England batsman had been behind the decision to split the Test and white-ball roles when he replaced Giles following the last Ashes tour, initially appointing Australian Matthew Mott as the limited-overs coach before sacking him last summer following poor performances in 50 over and T20 World Cups in 2023 and 2024. Key’s own decision-making is likely to be scrutinised as a result, including his seemingly dismissive approach to the County Championship, which has left many including players including Jamie Smith and Jacob Bethell short of red-ball practice coming into the Ashes.
