England’s head coach Brendon McCullum addressed their Champions Trophy campaign, which ended without a win, including a seven-wicket defeat to South Africa on Saturday. Despite the team’s seventh consecutive ODI loss, their longest run of defeats since 2000/2001, McCullum maintained that their prior losses in India hadn’t affected team morale.
England suffered defeats in both T20 and ODI series in India before the ICC event.
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“No, I felt India was a very good preparation for such a tournament. Yes we were beaten comfortably by India but it was good preparation for a major tournament,” McCullum stated at a press conference.
He admitted that whilst the team had high expectations for the Champions Trophy, their performance fell short of expectations.
“But we were very poor and it is very disappointing. But we saw tonight that we couldn’t withstand the pressure and players lacked confidence,” he observed.
The coach highlighted the substantial work ahead, particularly in building player confidence before matches.
“Give me a couple of weeks. I will be meeting with Rob Key and ECB officials to find out the best way forward and make sure we can see improvement in white ball cricket and we are very thorough about it.”
Regarding leadership positions, McCullum indicated he would provide clarity about T20 and ODI captaincy appointments in the coming weeks. Jos Buttler’s ODI captaincy concluded disappointingly, following his resignation after England’s loss to Afghanistan.
McCullum remarked: “It is natural how he is feeling as he cares so much and is sad he couldn’t get the best out of the guys. But it gives us an opportunity to move forward and find ways to do well as per the style of cricket we play. Jos remains a big player for us.”
He emphasised that younger players such as Harry Brook and Jamie Smith should learn from this tournament whilst maintaining their confidence.
“My main concern is to ensure no negativity bleeds into our big Test cricket summer and at same time ensure guys who have been successful before their confidence levels remain high.”
McCullum acknowledged their strategy of favouring batsmen and fast bowlers might have been incorrect, despite having conviction in their plans.
“Look we have to learn hard lessons from here and in the next few weeks I have confidence we will work it out because of the talent we have in English cricket not just here but otherwise also.”