Joe Root insists England’s players are “absolutely committed” to Brendon McCullum, but the hollowness of the win in Melbourne leaves the coach with a lot to prove if he is to keep his job.

The focus now will be on Sydney and whether England’s battered and weary players can raise themselves again for another dead rubber and help save the senior management from being swept away by a failed Ashes venture.

England’s win in Melbourne may not be enough to save Brendon McCullum.Credit: Getty Images

Winning a lottery on a seaming pitch at the MCG lifted morale and reset the clock as far as England’s results in Australia are concerned after almost 15 years without a victory, but they are 3-1 down and sit seventh in the World Test Championship table.

They will almost certainly fail to qualify for the final, to be played in England before the next Ashes series in 2027, for the fourth time.

The Melbourne win cannot mask the mistakes in preparation and planning that Rob Key and McCullum have already owned up to. Arguably, it has made those errors appear worse with England’s seamers finally looking battle-hardened after four games in which they have adjusted to the lengths required for Australian pitches.

It exposed this group’s main weakness: their disregard for playing cricket outside of Test matches. Ben Stokes, the captain, has not appeared in any other form of the game since August 2024. His last game for Durham was two years ago.

Hard questions remain for England coach Brendon McCullum.Credit: Getty Images

Stokes showed strong leadership in Melbourne. He started by protecting his players as stories swirled from the Noosa trip.

On Christmas Eve, he looked emotional and spoke very slowly, and deliberately, as he called for some empathy for young men caught in a media storm, and he managed to galvanise them to win a low-scoring game on a tricky pitch. He is also........

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