Bring back that Bazball feeling: McCullum wants England to reconnect with fans

Brendon McCullum has called on England’s cricketers to reconnect with their fans after a period when some of their public comments, as well as their performances, may have given the impression that they are “out of touch with the general population”.

This week’s four-day Test against Zimbabwe marks the start of a defining few months in which England play a five-game series at home to India before travelling to Australia in search of an elusive away Ashes win. McCullum said he had spent the “idle time” before the start of the international summer “looking at 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”.

McCullum’s feeling is that after revelling in the ultra-attacking approach England adopted after his appointment in 2022, the supporters’ enthusiasm has waned.

“At the start I think people were enthralled by the freewheeling type of cricket that we played, and I feel as if they felt a sense of belonging to that type of group,” he said. “But if we look at it, some of the ways that we’ve let opportunities slip, some of the ways we’ve maybe not been as smart as we could with some of our comments in the media … One of the things we talk about is, we want the English fans to get in behind us. And to do that 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 to play on the biggest stage and under the brightest lights and the pressure is one thing, but also the ability to show some humility and not feel out of touch with the general population is something that I’d like to see us improve on.”

Over the last 18 months some players’ comments have been seized upon as evidence of a cavalier approach. Last month the bowler Mark Wood said that “sometimes we’ve been a bit dumb in the things we say in the press. We come out and we’ll say an off-the-cuff one-liner, then it looks like we’re Billy Big Boots, above our station”. After England finished bottom of their group at the Champions Trophy earlier this year Rob Key, England’s managing director of men’s cricket, said players “speak a lot of rubbish a lot of the time”, creating the false impression “that they don’t care about winning, that they’re arrogant”.

“It’s not intentional,” McCullum said. “They’re trained cricketers, not trained media folk. These guys work unbelievably hard. They sacrifice so much. But we’ve got to be a bit smarter with some of our comments, and we will be. We’ve got to be smart enough to articulate things so that we don’t lose touch with the English people. We want them along for the ride, particularly in the next few series, which could be quite amazing. We want people to look back and say, ‘Crikey, that was a hell of a team that we loved following, and we felt as if we were part of that journey they went on.”

McCullum confirmed that Essex’s Sam Cook will make his Test debut as England, who were ranked sixth in the world when he took over three years ago, try to build on their new position at No 2. “To get to where we are is good, and everyone’s happy about that, but at the same time there’s a lot of meat on the bone for us,” he said. “When we took on a project like this, it was not about necessarily settling on good.”

The 43-year-old said the decision of his captain, Ben Stokes, to forego alcohol reflects the team’s determination to make the most of their next few months. “I think he’s had the time to look at where he is individually and say, ‘How do I make sure that I get the very most out of the talent I was born with and the opportunity I’ve been given?’ And I think the extra motivation, in the latter part of his career, to maximise the talent he’s got is a massive positive,” McCullum said. “It probably embodies where we’re at as a team. We’re proud of what we’ve been able to achieve, but now is the time for us to let the handbreak off and try and shoot for the stars.”