‘Where is the accountability?’ – Geoffrey Boycott lambasts ECB’s decision to retain Brendon McCullum as head coach

Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott has heavily criticised England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) decision to retain head coach Brendon McCullum and managing director Rob Key following their disastrous Ashes tour.

England failed to regain the Ashes and fell to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of their arch-rivals. Following a deep review into the winter series, the ECB decided to keep McCullum and Key in their roles.

Boycott claimed that there is no accountability within the England camp and argues on why McCullum and Key have kept their jobs when the entire cricketing fraternity are raising serious question marks on the team’s leadership, both on and off the field.

“What planet is he on? Is he oblivious to what the majority of former England players and cricket journalists are saying? Gould says it will not be a popular decision to keep Brendon McCullum and he is damn right,” Boycott wrote in his column for The Telegraph.

Boycott put blame on Key for the situation at hand. Despite questionable decisions during the Ashes, there was no change within the dressing room ahead of the start of the English summer.

“Rob Key, the men’s director of cricket, should take a lot of blame for allowing this situation to become so ingrained in the coach, the players and the backroom staff. He appointed McCullum, and he is his boss. Key has played Test cricket and lots of county cricket, so he has no excuse for doing nothing,” he wrote.

“Like me, cricket supporters will be asking how McCullum and Key could make so many bad decisions on the Australian tour and yet the chief executive of English cricket decides there is no need to make any changes. Where is the accountability?” he added.

England’s troubles this winter have not only been on the field, but off it too, with players’ behaviour also called into question. Most notably that of white-ball captain Harry Brook, who had a confrontation with a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand a day before an ODI.

England, however, redeemed their winter by winning an away white-ball series against Sri Lanka before making it to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup where they narrowly lost to hosts and eventual champions India.

The Three Lions commence their home summer with a three-match Test series against New Zealand, starting June 4. With Test cricket playing a crucial role in the country, expect a lot of eyeballs on how England lineup and fair against the Kiwis after their recent Ashes debacle.

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