England must find a way to handle gruelling schedule: Brendon McCullum

Published - 08 Sept 2025, 17:50 IST | Updated - 08 Sept 2025, 19:13 IST

England head coach Brendon McCullum has admitted that his side must learn to cope better with their demanding international schedule. England will head into their T20I series against South Africa this week without Ben Duckett and Jamie Smith. Duckett, Smith, and Harry Brook have featured in all 15 of England’s international fixtures this summer and also took part in The Hundred. To manage their workload, McCullum has granted his ODI openers an extra week’s rest so they can recharge ahead of a packed winter schedule.

As a result, Duckett and Smith will also miss next week’s short tour of Ireland. Their consecutive absence from T20I series comes less than six months before the T20 World Cup. In their place, Phil Salt, who missed England’s most recent T20Is being on paternity leave, is expected to return and open the batting, likely alongside either Tom Banton or Will Jacks.

England face a hectic run of fixtures, with the Ashes and the T20 World Cup this winter, interspersed with white-ball tours to New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Although England managing director Rob Key suggested last year that the schedule was easing when expanding McCullum’s role to cover white-ball cricket, the calendar shows little sign of relenting.

The packed nature of the season was highlighted after the Hundred final, when England had just a single rest day before their ODI series against South Africa, a match in which they were heavily defeated in Leeds without a training session together. ECB chair Richard Thompson has acknowledged the problems caused by the congested fixture list, but admitted that significant changes are unlikely during the current broadcast rights cycle.

"The scheduling isn't ideal. That's just the way it is and it's not going to change, so we're going to have to find ways to deal with it… We're just going to have to find ways to be able to hit the ground running a bit quicker than what we did in this one,” said McCullum as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

"I spoke to [Duckett] and I said, 'I think you need to freshen up. You've played so much cricket and you're such an influential player for us over the next few months.' He'll have a decent break at home, as will Jamie Smith… It gives the other guys opportunities, and it's exciting, too. If we just rely on 11 players, then we're not really going to be competitive,” he added.

Sam Curran will feature in England’s top six against South Africa after earning a recall on the back of strong performances for Surrey and the Oval Invincibles. Curran has previously not been selected by McCullum in any of his squads, with the head coach admitting he had told the all-rounder in an honest conversation that he would need to bang the door down as a batter.

"The message to Sam was that a lot's come to you quickly and you've had a lot of success and a lot of fame, and a lot of things have fallen your way. But, of late, your performance had just tailed off a bit… With us resting both Jamie and Ben, it gives us the opportunity to bring Sam in and he'll get his chance to bat in the top six,” said McCullum.

England are expected to persist with the spin-heavy approach they trialled against West Indies in June as preparations continue for next year’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. Curran is likely to act as their third seamer, while Jacob Bethell and Will Jacks are set to provide spin options alongside Adil Rashid and either Liam Dawson or Rehan Ahmed.

The head coach admitted that balancing the side without a genuine allrounder remains a challenge, but revealed he has already spoken with Harry Brook about ways to tilt the balance slightly by making more use of part-time bowling options. Bethell and Jacks shared the role of England’s fifth bowler in the ODI series, but their combined 10 overs in a narrow defeat at Lord’s proved costly, conceding 112 runs.

"We've just got to be a bit smarter with it… Utilising the big side of the ground, or also trying to set slightly more defensive fields. They don't need to take 3 for 30 off 10 overs. They've just got to find a way to be able to create pressure and hold for a period so that our attacking guys can come in,” said McCullum.

"We won't always be married to that [balance] but at the moment, we want to make sure that we've got that familiarity within our batting group - particularly in the middle order, as they adjust to some new roles so that they get more and more comfortable with how each of them is going to play,” he added.

McCullum pointed to England’s record 342-run victory in Southampton as an incredible blueprint for how they should approach ODIs, despite the fluctuating nature of the series overall.

"We got hammered in the first one, we were within one blow in the second, and we dished out a pretty good performance in the third… It shows that there's not a huge gulf between the two teams,” McCullum concluded.