Bazball 2.0 in-tray: Brendon McCullum’s key issues as he takes control of English cricket

Like Ruud van Nistelrooy at Manchester United, England interim white-ball coach Marcus Trescothick hands over a team that feels far more cohesive than only a few weeks earlier.

As Brendon McCullum prepares to become the full-time white-ball coach in the new year, he will inherit a side who have shown glimpses of reinvigoration after two moribund years.

Five issues will go a long way to determining whether England’s white-ball side can now enjoy the same uplift in results as the Test team did when McCullum took over.

The return of the old guard

Ahead of the Champions Trophy in February, the call will once again go out to Ben Stokes. The allure of Stokes lies partly in his two crucial innings in World Cup finals – in 2019 at Lord’s, and 2022 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. But it also reflects how, if he is at anything like full fitness, Stokes offers an unrivalled way to balance the side: batting in the top six, and giving England a fourth seamer who is adept at reverse swing. Without Stokes, England will struggle to fit in a fourth seam option, unless Sam Curran – whose tour of the West Indies confirmed the perception that he should be considered a batting all-rounder – plays in the top seven.

Joe Root presents another conundrum. England were at pains to say that he was rested, not dropped, when he didn’t play against Australia in the ODIs in September. Against the high-quality attacks in Pakistan – or wherever the tournament is played – the suspicion is that Root’s technical class and adaptability will be essential. Yet a counter-argument can also be made. Root will be 34 before the Champions Trophy. Partly because he has played so sporadically, his recent ODI returns have been meagre, averaging 29 since 2019.

If both Stokes and Root are recalled, with Ben Duckett slotting back in as opener and Harry Brook returning, England will only have two other slots in their top six, which would be filled by Phil Salt and Jos Buttler himself. The captain expressed his wish that both Stokes and Root could return for the Champions Trophy.

The prospect of at least one of Stokes and Root returning bodes ill for Will Jacks. Many franchise coaches consider him a rare talent, yet he mustered a top score of 38 all tour. He now averages 31.2 in ODIs and just 18.2 in T20 internationals.

Who keeps?

When he was appointed white-ball coach, McCullum said that one of his aims was to stop Buttler looking “a little bit miserable”. Watching on from afar, McCullum would have been heartened by Buttler’s vigour in the T20s.

Relinquishing the gloves, Buttler relished how fielding – normally at mid off – made communication with his bowlers easier. His leadership was notably aggressive, bowling both Jofra Archer and Saqib Mahmood throughout the powerplay in the middle two T20s, and being rewarded by eight wickets across these 12 overs. Plans, like challenging Shimron Hetmyer with a bouncer just outside his eyeline, came to fruition. Buttler even briefly fielded at short leg.

“It’s been good for me to take one less thing off my plate,” Buttler reflected. “I’ve enjoyed being closer to the bowlers.” Should this continue, then Salt is likely to remain the T20 keeper. He could also do the ODI role, unless Jamie Smith is picked ahead of Root.

In this new phase of his career, Buttler also embraced a new role in the batting order in T20 cricket, shuffling down from opening to number three. The move empowers Salt and Jacks to try and maximise the powerplay. Buttler can then play as he sees fit: either attacking or anchoring. An imperious 83 in the second T20 in Bridgetown suggested that Buttler is back to his best.

How to continue Bethell’s rise

Jacob Bethell’s first tour with England was really a homecoming. In the opening T20 in Barbados, about 150 of Bethell’s family and friends packed into the Greenidge and Haynes Stand. They were rewarded by Bethell’s crisp unbeaten 58, which showed both his ability to caress the ball into gaps and his simple raw power. Electric fielding confirmed the impression that Bethell is English cricket’s coming man – and perhaps not only in white-ball cricket.

Despite a first-class average of just 25.4, Bethell has been fast-tracked into the Test squad for the tour of New Zealand. After working with Bethell in the Caribbean, Trescothick believes that his impact across formats could come to emulate that of Harry Brook.

“All the attributes are there,” Trescothick said. “If you have markers to be able to go, right, you need to do this, this and this, he’d be knocking on the door for that. And obviously he’s now next in line on this next trip. There’s no reason why he can’t break through and succeed, because he’s flourished in both formats that we’ve seen in the recent period.

“It would be exciting to see him go in there and see what he can do. You could almost see him breaking through as being the next youngster after Harry Brook, the real exciting one coming through.”

Developing the pace attack

In T20 cricket, England have struggled for new-ball wickets, mustering just six in their previous six games against Test opposition until arriving in the Caribbean. The thriving new-ball partnership between Archer and Mahmood, then, was a particular benefit for England from their tour. After two injury-ruined years, Mahmood’s cocktail of new-ball swing and a dangerous bouncer has made him a first-choice T20 pick. He could well now also take the new ball in the Champions Trophy.

England were also heartened by Jamie Overton’s tour. After a series of stress fractures, Overton’s workload is being carefully managed; he was not fit to bowl in every game. His 3-20 in the third T20 in St Lucia showed not merely pace and bounce but also a growing array of white-ball variations. Add in Overton’s power-hitting at number eight and he is shaping up to give England rare options in their limited-overs teams. Whether England feel confident picking him in the Champions Trophy, and trusting him with 10 overs, remains unclear. Yet with Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse to return to the ODI team, England have an array of quick bowlers who can also bat handily.

Preparing for life after Rashid

Adil Rashid is, as Buttler has often said, the white-ball team’s most valuable player, the man whose skills are hardest to replace. That remains true even with Rashid turning 37 before the Champions Trophy.

But England used the T20 series to give Rehan Ahmed two matches as the frontline spinner, resting Rashid. Ahmed’s 3-43 in the defeat in St Lucia showed abundant promise, though the question of whether he overuses his googly remains.

So precocious was Ahmed that it can be easy to overlook that he is just 20. Yet England must do everything that they can to accelerate his development: Rashid will be 39 by the time of the 2027 ODI World Cup.

My Champions Trophy Team

Salt (wk) Duckett, Stokes, Brook, Buttler (c), Bethell, Livingstone, Atkinson, Rashid, Mahmood, Archer

The return of Ben Stokes would allow England to field four seamers, giving crucial flexibility. In theory, Stokes’ return leaves one of Jacob Bethell and Liam Livingstone to be squeezed out. But this would be very harsh given the pair’s performances in the last two months, while they handily offer contrasting spin too. The upshot is that Joe Root is squeezed out. But Root’s ODI returns have suffered from the schedule: he has played just 28 50-over games since the 2019 World Cup.