It's not really up to me, is it?: McCullum on continuing as England coach

Melbourne, Dec 23 (PTI) England head coach Brendon McCullum has stressed his desire to continue in the role but conceded that his future is no longer in his control following the team’s dismal Ashes campaign.

McCullum has come under intense scrutiny after England surrendered the Ashes 3-0 inside the first three Tests.

The former New Zealand captain is contracted with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) until the conclusion of the 2027 ODI World Cup, a tenure that also includes the next home Ashes series in the same year.

“I don’t know. It’s not really up to me, is it? I will just keep trying to do the job, try to learn the lessons that I haven’t quite got right here and make adjustments. Those questions are for someone else, not for me,”

McCullum told reporters when asked if he believes he will be in charge for the home summer next year.

Calling the role a “pretty good gig”, McCullum said he remains motivated despite the heavy criticism.

“It’s a pretty good gig. It’s good fun. You travel the world with the lads and try to play some exciting cricket and try to achieve some things. For me, it’s a matter of trying to just get the very best out of the people and try to achieve what you can with them.

“Those other decisions are up to other people. I think we’ve made some progress from when I took over to where we are,” he was quoted as saying by the English media.

McCullum was initially appointed as England’s Test coach before taking charge of the white-ball teams earlier this year.

The defeat in Adelaide extended England’s winless run in Tests in Australia to 18 matches, with their last series victory Down Under coming in 2010-11.

Key to probe”excessive drinking” claims ========================= England managing director Rob Key has vowed to investigate reports alleging that players indulged in “excessive drinking” during their mid-Ashes break, describing such behaviour as “completely unacceptable”.

With England trailing 0-2 in the series, the squad travelled to Noosa, a resort town in Queensland, for a four-night break following their eight-wicket defeat in the second Test at the Gabba.

“If there’s things where people are saying that our players went out and drank excessively then of course we’ll be looking into that,” Key was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

“Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol for an international cricket team is not something that I’d expect to see at any stage, and it would be a fault not to look into what happened there. But from everything that I’ve heard so far, they were very well behaved.” While Key, who did not travel with the team, maintained that players conducted themselves appropriately, several reports described the trip as a “glorified stag do”.

According to the BBC, some players allegedly spent six days drinking — two in Brisbane followed by four in Noosa.

“I’ve read what’s been written in the last day or so, and if it goes into where they’re drinking lots and it’s a stag do, all that type of stuff, that’s completely unacceptable. I’m not a drinker. I think a drinking culture doesn’t help anyone in any stretch whatsoever,” Key said.

“I have no issue with the Noosa trip if it was to get away and just throw your phone away, down tools, go on the beach… Everything that I’ve heard so far is that they sat down, had lunch, had dinner, didn’t go out late, had the odd drink. I don’t mind that.

“If it goes past that, then that’s an issue as far as I’m concerned… There’s lots of people there that might disagree with that, but that’s what we’ll find out,” he added. PTI APA SSC SSC