ECB chief executive Richard Gould backs England hierarchy to ‘adapt’ as status quo holds sway

Ravi Singh

3 hours ago

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The ECB’s review into England’s 4-1 Ashes defeat has concluded that there should be no change in personnel among the team’s management, with chief executive Richard Gould insisting: “This is not the time to throw everything out.”

Gould announced a “thorough review” into England’s performance in Australia hours after the series ended in January and said that he had given “a lot of consideration” to “the right mix of leadership”. But he confirmed on Monday that Rob Key, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes will retain their roles as managing director, head coach and Test captain respectively.

“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That’s not the route that we’re going to take,” Gould said. “I’ve seen the driving ambition and determination that we’re lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move on forward… It may not be the popular route. It may not be the easiest route. But I think it’s the right route.”

Gould and Key announced a series of outcomes from the review while addressing the media for the first time since the Ashes at Lord’s on Monday, while insisting that incremental change will be sufficient for England to start winning major Test series again. These included:

An insistence that McCullum and Stokes have not had a “bust-up”
A desire for the team’s style to become more “ruthless and relentless”
A commitment for “better long-term planning” ahead of major Test series
An acceptance that some players’ behaviour this winter was “unprofessional”
A new approach to selection with more “consequence” for underperformance
A pledge to re-engage with county cricket.

“We have seen that there are ways that we can do things in a different way and ensure that we’ve got more options,” Gould said. “We don’t want to be painted into a corner by being perceived that we can only do things in one particular way… There is the belief that we can adapt, and I think we’ve seen good evidence of that and we will continue to drive that forward.”

Gould, whose father Bobby had a long career as a football manager, said that the contrast between the two sports was instructive. “Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership,” he said. “It’s not like football, where there’s a single point of failure or success with a manager, and so it’s always a blended solution.”

It became increasingly clear as the Ashes wore on that McCullum and Stokes wanted different things from their side: McCullum doubled down on his belief that England needed to play with more “conviction” before the third Test in Adelaide, while Stokes reflected that their style of play had become “predictable” after four years.

But Key, who said that he had not considered resigning after the Ashes, said that there had not been any significant deterioration in their relationship. “There’s been no big argument, no big bust-up,” he said. “Everyone’s always trying, when you’re under pressure – especially against a very good side – to make decisions and help people perform under the toughest conditions.

“And actually, what we’ve really all agreed on now is that we don’t want a massive change of style. We don’t want a change of philosophy so that you’re asking Brendon McCullum to be someone completely different… It’s [about] whether or not you have fundamental alignment in the fact you want to try and get the best out of players, and that now is the time to be ruthless and relentless.”

Key also acknowledged that some England supporters would be frustrated to see the full management team retain their roles. “I know people want punishment, and that people then should be sacked for that. That doesn’t mean we don’t feel like we’ve gone through some serious pain: Brendon, myself, Ben. It’s been as tough a time as I think I’ve had.”

Gould said that some players’ behaviour this winter was “significantly unprofessional”, referring to the night out in Wellington which nearly cost Harry Brook the white-ball captaincy. He defended the ECB’s attempts to cover-up the resultant disciplinary process, but said that England’s culture and environment needed to become more professional.

Key defended England’s assistant coaches and support staff, but hinted that performance director Ed Barney will play a greater role in the first team. England will also hire a new national selector to replace Luke Wright in the coming weeks, and Key said that he had learned not to place too high a premium on continuity of selection.

“We didn’t want to be giving someone a debut [in Australia],” he said. “But what happens then is that there’s a lack of consequence, really, for substandard performance, and certainly that can be the perception. That’s one of the things that we overplayed. We did it for a reason, but the pendulum has probably swung too far.”

Key will speak to directors of cricket ahead of the start of the County Championship season next week as he looks to repair the fractured relationship between the England set-up and the domestic game. He framed this summer – in which England host New Zealand and Pakistan – as the start of a “new cycle”, while Gould said the wider focus was on Ashes “revenge” in 2027.

Gould denied that the review – which will not be made public – amounted to the ECB marking its own homework, insisting he had sought external advice, but said that only around 30-40% of the material presented to the media on Monday was new. “We need to stop having to relearn old lessons,” he said. “It’s not a complete reset… It’s time to learn and build.”

Matt Roller is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98

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