Brendon McCullum’s latest absurd claim should spell the end of his tenure |
An alarming sign of Brendon McCullum’s attitude to coaching England came on the Adelaide outfield, where, with Australian players uncorking the champagne behind him and the urn surrendered in record-equalling time, he made his soaring pitch to keep his job. “It’s a pretty good gig, it’s good fun,” he shrugged. “You travel the world with the lads and try to play some exciting cricket and achieve some things.”
He sounded as if he were describing life on board a cruise ship, where the pursuit of sporting glory was just some trifling distraction from the boys-on-tour vibe. And in return, he expected to keep a minimum £500,000-a-year ($1 million) salary, with zero accountability.
‘It’s a pretty good gig’: Brendon McCullum in Adelaide after England’s defeat left them 3-0 down in the Ashes.Credit: Getty Images
Any serious organisation would be disabusing him of this delusion today. But the message from the England and Wales Cricket Board is that it is still on board with Baz, that Baz is capable of cultural evolution, that there will simply be a few quiet, behind-the-scenes tweaks before the grand unveiling of Bazball 2.0. Until the past 24 hours, this position might just have been tenable.
Not now, though. Not after the exposure of a culture so dismally amateurish that Harry Brook, the white-ball captain, felt at liberty on the night before a one-day international against New Zealand to go to a nightclub, with that bone-headed decision leading to him being punched by a bouncer.
Could McCullum change his ways on the back of such a revelation? The portents are not good; McCullum,........