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The Australian who could be a "shrewd selection" to replace McCullum
Nicholas Quinlan • December 8th, 2025 8:32 pm
SEN Cricket’s Adam Collins and Bharat Sundaresan have looked at the potential options that England could replace Brendon McCullum as their coach, if he were to be sacked following an Ashes series loss.
The visitors are now down 2-nil in the Ashes series following eight-wicket losses in Perth and Brisbane; the pressure is now on the New Zealander to turn the tide and attempt to keep the series alive.
And history is certainly not on their side, with only one side (Australia - 1936/37) in the rivalry’s history having managed to come back from 2-nil down to win the series.
With these poor results, this has seen McCullum come under fire, which has caught Collins by surprise, considering that this English side was being hyped as their best chances since 2010/11 at winning an away Ashes series before the tour began.
“It has moved so quickly,” Collins lamented on SEN.
“We’ve moved from this is the England team who had the best chance of winning in Australia for a generation since 2010/11.
“In six days of cricket, we are at the sack the coach stage.”
As the possibility of McCullum’s tenure with the England side appears to be nearing, the esteemed cricket writer/broadcaster believes that if they are to go in a new direction, it will likely be an Australian.
“I think the next coach of the England Cricket team will be Australian,” he continued.
“It’s a bit like with England Football managers, they go from an England-born (coach) to a foreign-born back and forth.
“So, it applies often with coaching philosophies with cricket teams, doesn’t it, where we have had this laissez-faire approach from McCullum and co.
"They will want, I think, an Australian who is more interventionalist.”
If the ECB were to pick up an Australian coach, it wouldn’t be the first time, having had Trevor Bayliss coach them to an ODI World Cup victory on home soil in 2019, while Matthew Mott helped England claim a T20 World Cup on Australian soil in 2022.
And there are plenty of options that the governing body could consider with the likes of Justin Langer and Ricky Ponting, although Collins suspects that it would be unlikely, they would be appointed.
Instead, he feels that someone like Brad Haddin could be a shrewd selection if he were appointed.
“I’m not sure if they will go someone as high profile as Lehmann because of the well-documented history with the Australian team, for the same reason why I doubt it will be Langer,” he explained.
“And I can’t imagine a world where Ricky Ponting would ever want (the job).
“But there is a group of coaches who would do a fine job. I think Brad Haddin would be a shrewd selection. He would be an outstanding coach, I think, of a national team at some point.
“Simon Katich would be as good as it gets, although Simon is not going to relocate to the UK anytime soon.”
Sundaresan also added that Haddin may also be somewhat restricted from taking that role.
“I think Hadds is the same, I think his kids are of a similar age to (Simon Katich’s),” he added.
England will look to keep the series alive in the Third Test at the Adelaide Oval.
That begins on December 17 with SEN having LIVE coverage of every ball bowled throughout the five-match series.
