Ashes 2025-26: Former Australian spinner urges ECB to stick with Brendon McCullum as head coach

Former Australian cricketer Steve O’Keefe has weighed in on Brendon McCullum‘s future as England’s head coach amid question marks raised regarding his stint of late. England trail the ongoing Ashes by a 2-0 margin after getting heavily defeated in both clashes so far.

O’Keefe highlighted that England have fared much better under McCullum at the helm than when Joe Root was the skipper under the coaching of Chris Silverwood. He said that he would proceed with the former Kiwi cricketer as England’s coach despite contrary public opinion. 

“Look, I’d say sitting back and taking the emotion out of it. Look at the coaching rate under him. At the end of the Joe Root and Chris Silverwood era, they won one out of 17, and they’re shooting at 58 percent with McCullum. No England team has come over and done well in Australia since 2010/11. Does he survive? I think there are a lot of people saying that he wouldn’t. But personally, I’d stick with him,” shared O’Keefe on SEN Radio.

Although O’Keefe commented that he would still persist with McCullum, the Australian advised him to be more open to criticism and be increasingly flexible with strategies while touring countries like Australia for Test cricket. 

“He brings a bold new approach that this England team has got. Do they have to change their ways? Yes. Does he start having to listen a little bit more, adapt, and correct? Yes. 100 years of Test cricket will tell you that you just can’t come up with the same plan and expect to have different results when you’re getting thumped,” he added.

McCullum has had an increasingly positive effect on the manner in which England have approached their cricket, especially in Tests, where his ‘Bazball’ approach has come under severe criticism when it has not paid off. It was a similar case when it comes to their performance with the bat in the two Tests.

They lost the first two Tests by eight wickets each. The third match of the five-match series is scheduled to commence on December 17 at the Adelaide Oval.