England sacks Brendon McCullum as Test coach amid Ashes turmoil

The England and Wales Cricket Board has removed Brendon McCullum from the Test job, leaving England’s red-ball side without both a head coach and a captain at a moment of clear institutional strain. McCullum will stay on as England’s white-ball coach, but the decision ends a four-year Test partnership with Ben Stokes that defined the Bazball era and now forces the ECB into an urgent search for succession.

Stokes announced on 28 June 2026 that he would retire from international cricket at the end of the third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge, removing the captain from the Test team only weeks before McCullum’s exit from the red-ball role. The timing leaves England with no obvious on-field leader and no Test coach as preparations begin for the Ashes in Australia next year, the series Richard Gould pointed to when saying the time was right to make a change.

McCullum’s appointment as England men’s Test head coach was announced in May 2022, just ahead of the home series against New Zealand. His tenure brought an aggressive, attacking style that became known as Bazball, but results have hardened the scrutiny around that approach. England have lost eight of their last 12 Tests, including a 4-1 Ashes defeat to Australia and a 2-1 home loss to New Zealand, their first home defeat in a three-Test-or-longer series in 14 years.

The ECB had backed McCullum publicly only recently after England’s Ashes struggles, which makes the reversal especially sharp. McCullum said he was “gutted” but respected the decision after four years in charge of the Test side. The change appears narrower than a full-scale overhaul, with Rob Key expected to remain as managing director of cricket, but it still exposes a leadership gap at the top of England’s Test structure and raises immediate questions over who will lead the side into the next Ashes campaign.