England cancel final warm-up match – and head to the races

Brendon McCullum believes there is a serious side to England's laidback approach because golf weeks and bonding trips help in the constant fight against franchise cricket.

England spent five days in Arrowtown, a resort close to Queenstown, at the start of this tour playing golf and adrenaline sports. On Saturday, which should have been day two of their second warm-up game before it was cancelled by England, the squad will go to Te Rapa racecourse in Hamilton to watch McCullum’s horse Defibrillate run a group one race with a £330,000 purse.

In the UAE, before the Pakistan series in December, they had a similar ‘camp’ playing golf and attending the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix while warming up against the England Lions.

McCullum wants to create an atmosphere that attracts players at a time when they have multiple choices on the franchise circuit. Golf weeks are a way of pushing back against playing for yet another T20 side and lining the pocket. It comes at a time when several players have declined the invitation to the white-ball tour to Bangladesh next month to play T20 cricket instead.

“Yeah, that is the thinking. Guys have got so many options these days that Test cricket, you’ve got to make enjoyable, not just on the field but you’ve got to make it enjoyable off the field and try and get those guys to know that when they board the plane to head overseas or jump in the car to head down to Lord’s then they know they're gonna have a great time and the results will hopefully follow,” said McCullum.

Part of the approach is practical too. By splitting the coaching roles between McCullum and Matthew Mott, it is useful to have a few days away from the glare of the international spotlight for the coach to renew links with players who may have spent the previous few weeks listening to a different voice.

“We had a great time in Arrowtown. We stayed at the golf course. We had a lot of team time and contact time. Before the split formats, one thing we identified is that it can just take a few days to be able to get the natural rhythm of your environment back again. So climbing straight back into cricket again can have a detrimental effect. We like the idea that you try and get the guys together and they find their natural rhythm.

“Test cricket is hard and travelling the world can be difficult. It’s meant to be a fun time in your life and you should be able to enjoy it not just on the field but off the field as well. Things that the guys have done over the past week or so will hopefully be memories they can take with them for a long time. They’ve done it together which, from a coaching point of view, is one of the most important aspects.”

McCullum has been part coach, part tour guide, fixing hotel stays and rounds of golf for the players between training sessions but also enjoying showing off his home country.

Warm up games are not something that really excites the new regime. Ben Stokes has not played in this match and the real work is done in the nets. With schedules squeezed by T20 leagues, the warm-up match is quickly becoming a relic.

“Some characters don't need warm up games,” said McCullum. “The bigger the competition, the more they step up. He's [Stokes] never been a warm up game kind of guy and I don’t see that changing any time soon.’

Two days of cricket in Hamilton have been treated as middle practice. England batted at 7.1 an over, hitting sixes for fun against the New Zealand XI, before a day of bowling on Thursday with Stuart Broad and James Anderson easing their way back in before the first Test next week.

The top seven is settled and New Zealand knows what to expect. The approach will not change against the pink ball which given England’s woeful record in floodlit matches is fair enough. What they were doing before did not work so why not go for it? This tour is about doubling down on their method and making it second nature before the Ashes.

“I don't think we have reached the limit and I think it's still pretty new for us how we’re playing,” said McCullum. “The majority of the time it's authentic. I think sometimes we have to force it a little bit so we just need to make sure that it does become as consistently authentic as it possibly can. But I think the skill level of the guys is phenomenal. I'm not sure they've reached the point where they want to get to in their own careers yet, which is pretty exciting from our point of view.”