We’re not up to scratch, admits McCullum before Ashes

It is a historically bad time for England in ODIs. They have lost 12 of their past 16 games and finish 2025 with an away record that reads played nine, lost nine.

In all three matches against New Zealand, they were bowled out cheaply, with their top four batters contributing just 84 runs across the series in their combined 12 innings. It’s the new lowest tally by a top four in one-day internationals.

“We’ve got some talented players but our performances at the moment in this form of the game aren’t quite up to scratch and we need to rectify that,” McCullum said after England lost the final ODI in Wellington by two wickets yesterday.

After their first batting collapse in the opening fixture, where England found themselves 10 for four before a Harry Brook century lifted them to 223, Brook implored his team to “go harder” and double down in their aggressive approach. Another two failures later, however, and McCullum has reset the party line.

“Harry’s said before that we need to put pressure back on the bowlers and there are times when we do need to be a little braver and put some pressure on the bowlers,” McCullum said. “But then there are other times where we’ve got to adjust to their lengths and lines.

“Not necessarily in a high-risk sort of way but just by being brave enough – whether that’s coming down the wicket or moving around the crease.”

Despite several of England’s ODI batters – including Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Brook, Jamie Smith and potentially Jacob Bethell – set to play major roles in the Ashes, McCullum argued there was no reason to panic that a loss of form in one format will translate to a loss of form in another, stating that despite the low scores they put together as a group, they’ll be “better” for the experience.

“They’ve marked centre a few times and gone through the process and I’m sure they’ll be better for it. With the prep that we’ve had with the other Test guys who’ve been here for a while too, we’ll have no excuses come Australia.

“I think in T20 cricket we’re going really well and in Test cricket we have a pretty decent idea of where we’re at. One-day cricket is clearly the area we need to improve.”

The next time England take to the field for a competitive fixture will be in Perth for the first Test of one of the most hotly anticipated series in recent memory.

“Excited,” McCullum said of his emotions. “I’m proper excited. We’re incredibly respectful of the challenge Australia is going to present us and we know how hard that tour is going to be. It’s going to require a team to stay together right throughout, to be as strong as we can to try to block out the outside noise. We can’t wait to get started.”

Photograph by Joe Allison/Getty Images