England to sack Brendon McCullum?: England beat Pakistan last night at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele. The Three Lions became the first team to secure their place in the semi-finals of the 2026 T20 World Cup. Harry Brook’s century took the team through to the next round of the major competition. However, Brendon McCullum, who is the head coach of the England national cricket team, is under investigation.
However, Brendon McCullum plays a high-risk and high-reward game in all formats, known as ‘baseball’. This style of play has been criticized by former English cricketers, especially after the humiliating one-sided 4–1 defeat in the 2025/26 Ashes series in Australia. Speaking on the Stick to Cricket podcast, former England fast bowler Steve Harmison believes Brendon McCullum should be sacked.
I think he goes – Steve Harmison on Brendon McCullum
Michael Vaughan asked, “Where does that leave Brendon McCullum, when he has made so many mistakes?” Harmison replied, “I think, I’m reluctant, but I think he goes. I think you have to take this Ashes section out of it a little bit, because it was so bad, because everything went wrong. As such, our plan was horribly wrong, they have admitted that.
Here is the video
“I’m reluctant but I think he goes.”
The team revisited the Ashes. pic.twitter.com/O7E8wOszNH
– Stick to Cricket (@StickToCricket) 25 February 2026
Harmison talked about the lack of depth of spinners in the England team, as Shoaib Bashir is the main spinner of the team and there is no one else besides him. Will Jacques is a part-time bowler. There was no backup opener in the team and the batsmen who did not perform at their best had an average below 40.
Steve Harmison further added, “They haven’t played enough games, you know, Lilac Hill above the Optus Stadium. Even coming down to selection, Shoaib Bashir is your frontline spinner, Will Jacks is your backup spinner. I mean, there’s an alarm bell. You’ve got three batsmen in the top six averaging 34 or less, with no additional opening batsmen.”
“And even if you want to go a little deeper than that. I mean, this rant could go on a little longer. But there’s no extra opening batsman. And then if you look, OK, what we’ve got is, if Crawley, Duckett or Pope gets injured, we’ve got an inexperienced Bethel.”
I really want to see him succeed – Steve Harmison on Rob Key
Steve Harmison also spoke about the England Lions team and ECB Managing Director, Rob Key. He said:
“We’ve got a Lions trip, with Tom Haynes, Ben McKinney, Emilio Guerre. One of them is going to be involved in a Test match. So in these decisions, I always defend Rob Key because I have to, he’s my guy, and I really want to see him succeed and do well. And I think he’s done a lot of good things along the way.”
Brendon McCullum has no backup plan
Steve Harmison also pointed out that since taking over as the head coach, Brendon McCullum has failed to nurture young talent and address the problems within the team and he has failed to do so. This has been one of the reasons for the failure of the English team.
Steve Harmison concluded, “You talked about the Under-19s and the pathways on the last show. It was all rebuilt after Covid. It had to be rebuilt. And that’s why I will only take the decision on McCullum in this Ashes series.”
“Because as a coach, you deliver the message. As a coach, you prepare the players. As a coach, you prepare the team. You make sure that whatever could potentially go right or wrong, there are no strings attached to make sure, as a coach you are prepared for it.”
England will play New Zealand in their final Super 8 match on Friday as the team remains focused on winning the 2026 T20 World Cup.
Also read: Indian coach blindly defends Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Verma amid poor form in T20 World Cup