Sawt Falasteen - McCullum eager to make England white-ball teams 'bulletproof'

The New Zealander has reinvigorated England's Test set-up alongside captain Ben Stokes since 2022 and will seek to bring his attacking approach to the limited-overs teams.

McCullum, 42, has extended his contract until the end of 2027, officially taking over the one-day international and Twenty20 sides in January to coincide with a tour of India and the Champions Trophy in Pakistan.

He will succeed Matthew Mott, sacked as coach in July following lacklustre defences of England's 50-over and Twenty20 World Cup titles.

One of McCullum's most pressing tasks is to revive the fortunes of limited-overs skipper Jos Buttler.

Buttler, 33, will miss the upcoming T20 series against Australia with a calf injury but McCullum backed the man he called England's greatest ever white-ball player to come good in the twilight of his career.

"He's not naturally as expressive as some may be but I think he's done a great job. He's an incredibly gifted player and he's a fine leader," said McCullum.

"My job is to get the best out of him so that all those guys that sit in the dressing room feel like they can be 10 foot tall and bulletproof when they walk out to play."

The former New Zealand captain added: "Jos and I actually start from a strong base. We know each other, we're mates, we have similar styles of play.

"If he was to retire today, he'd go down as probably the greatest white-ball player England's ever produced, so the opportunity for the next three or four years is just to enjoy it."

McCullum, was speaking at The Oval, where England face Sri Lanka in the final Test of their 2024 home campaign starting Friday.

England are already 2-0 up in the three-match series, having whitewashed the West Indies 3-0 earlier in the season.

- Stokes a man for the 'big moment' -

One more win would give England their first perfect home Test season in 20 years and be a further endorsement of their progress under McCullum and Stokes.

They could now be together for at least two more Ashes series, with McCullum also leaving the door open for Stokes to continue to feature in major white-ball events.

"The skipper and I haven't spoken about that actually but I'm assuming he's all in. He seems like that sort of bloke."

Stokes, 33, came out of one-day international retirement to play in the 50-over World Cup last year, but has not played white-ball cricket for England since.

"There'll be some bilateral series where we simply can't have all of our best players playing at the same time," added McCullum.

"But when it comes to major events and big series, I think those players are very much in those discussions.

"Ben loves big moments and big stages."

As for his own increased responsibilities, an optimistic McCullum said: "I don't see it being a problem... It's going to be an added workload that's for sure, but some bets are worth it, right?"

X.Habash--SF-PST