Michael Atherton says there is “no doubt” Brendon McCullum has the credentials to be a success as England’s new white-ball head coach, but believes a “big challenge” lies ahead for the New Zealander.

England have won 19 of their 28 Tests under McCullum’s leadership, compared to one from 17 before he started, and it is hoped he can regenerate the white-ball side.

Having won the 50-over World Cup in 2019 and the T20 crown in 2022, Jos Buttler’s side won only three of their nine games in a disastrous 50-over World Cup campaign in 2023 and also lost their T20 title this year after losing to eventual winners India.

The concern around McCullum’s appointment is the intense cricketing schedule and while 2025 is less compact than previous years, Atherton believes the extra responsibility will be a challenge for the 42-year-old, who succeeds Matthew Mott.

“When England went to New Zealand for a Test tour last time and the series finished, there was a white-ball series in Bangladesh the next day,” said Atherton on the Sky Sports Cricket podcast.

“Now, in his appointment, he makes the point that the schedule has eased a bit from 2025. There aren’t those crossovers that there were, but I still think it is going to be a big challenge.

“I don’t doubt McCullum’s credentials at all, but the challenge will be just the extra responsibility, the extra time that it takes to plan and prepare and get a one-day team ready to play.

“You’re probably going to have to be doing that during a Test tour at times.

“I think it’ll make the people around him very important, people like Marcus Trescothick, who’s going to be the interim coach for this Australia series at the end of the summer, he will presumably step in from time to time.

“That’s how India have done it. They’ve had one man doing both, Rahul Dravid, until recently, but others have stepped in from time to time to give the head coach a break.

“When McCullum took the Test job, he said he thought the one-day job was a bit of a cushy role because that was going so well under Eoin Morgan and the Test team was more of a challenge, and that’s almost flipped now.”

Test captain Ben Stokes and McCullum have identified young talent from across the country for the Test side and nurtured them under the ultra-positive ‘Bazball’ philosophy.

Tom Hartley (vs India, 2024), Josh Tongue (vs Australia, 2023), Rehan Ahmed (vs Pakistan, 2023), Will Jacks (vs Pakistan, 2022) and Gus Atkinson (vs West Indies 2024) have all taken a five-for on debut under the Stokes-McCullum reign and it is hoped this success will continue into the white-ball side.

“I think [managing director of England men’s cricket, Rob] Key wants McCullum’s influence brought to bear on some of these really good young players right at the start of their international careers,” added Atherton.

“That’s when you can shape and mould players, isn’t it? That’s when they’re still kind of open to outside influence, when they’re still soaking it all in, eager to learn and eager to change, that’s when you can have the most influence on a young player.

“Now, as we move on from Morgan’s generation, I think Key wants McCullum to bring that influence and obviously the white-ball role now intrigues him in a way that it didn’t two years ago, because they’re in need of the kind of regeneration that the Test team needed two years ago.”

Trescothick has backed Buttler as England’s white-ball captain ahead of the multi-format series against Australia, live on Sky Sports from September 11, and Atherton discussed the importance of McCullum’s relationship with Buttler going forward.

“The key will be Buttler because this appointment wouldn’t have been made if he was not all in as well,” Atherton added.

“When Stokes and McCullum took over, there was a spring in their step, a freshness about their play and a kind of joy about the game.

“Key will be hoping that transmits to Buttler, who sometimes looks a bit burdened with the white ball captaincy, and he’ll be hoping that McCullum’s skills can rub off on him and make him look a little less burdened around the role.”

Hussain: Constant messaging will be a positive

Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain believes consistent messaging across all formats can only be a positive for England, but believes “freshness” could be an issue for McCullum.

“You can imagine the white-ball side having the same messaging as the red-ball side now, and there will be people in all three squads that won’t go from one to the other and be comparing like they may have been doing previously,” said Hussain.

“The constant messaging across, I think, is an absolute upside. There are no comparisons of coaches or questions of how it is done across formats.

“The one thing I’d like to keep, if possible, is the freshness.

“Everyone talks about the freshness of players, but sometimes when you’re losing World Cups, like the white-ball side have been, it will be quite nice to have Stokes and McCullum, who weren’t part of that recent World Cup, be fresh and ready to go.

“I want McCullum to turn up to everything he does with freshness and a good mindset that he seems to spread throughout any team.

“So if they lose an Ashes series, you don’t want to then go into a white-ball series where McCullum is weighed down by all the external noise.

“Not that it seems to affect him, but it must affect everyone. He is going to have to use Trescothick and various other people.”

England vs Australia schedule – all games live on Sky Sports

• 1st T20 (September 11) – The Ageas Bowl, Southampton (6.30pm start)
• 2nd T20 (September 13) – Sophia Gardens, Cardiff (6.30pm start)
• 3rd T20 (September 15) – Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester (2.30pm start)
• 1st ODI (September 19) – Trent Bridge, Nottingham (12.30pm start)
• 2nd ODI (September 21) – Headingley, Leeds (11am start)
• 3rd ODI (September 24) – Seat Unique Riverside, Durham (12.30pm start)
• 4th ODI (September 27) – Lord’s, London (12.30pm start)
• 5th ODI (September 29) – The Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol (11am start)

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