Brendon McCullum believes the England and Wales Cricket Board have done "incredibly well" to hire a coach of Stephen Fleming's calibre for the England Test head coach vacancy.
The ECB opted to part company with McCullum in July following a run of seven defeats in nine matches and a series of off-field issues, including captain Ben Stokes' breach of curfew which led to his suspension and subsequent retirement from international cricket.
There was great intrigue as to which route England would pursue next as the Test side seemingly unravelled, and the ECB decided to pursue Fleming, who recently ended a long-running association with IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings.
Fleming will not be available for the upcoming Pakistan series and his first assignment will instead be the tour of South Africa in December, leaving him with just six months of preparation time before the 2027 Ashes.
Fleming will arrive in the England hotseat with the full support of his predecessor McCullum, who is close friends and even a business partner of the former New Zealand Test captain.
"I had a great time in my four years but now it’s going in a different direction, I think Flem (Fleming) will be excellent,” England's white-ball head coach McCullum told Sky Sports.
“He’s a little bit like me, but better – that’s how I would sum him up. He’ll do a great job, and the ECB have done incredibly well to get someone like him to commit to English cricket for the period that he has. It’s an outstanding achievement.”
One headache for England in the past is the scheduling of all-format players, but McCullum believes his relationship with Fleming will enable the pair to work collaboratively for the benefit of both the red-ball team and white-ball sides.
“We talk pretty much every day, we’re close mates,” McCullum said of Fleming. “We’ve done a lot together and he’s one of those guys who I trust completely. We both just want what’s best for English cricket. We want to set this up so that English cricket can be successful across all three formats of the game.
“That is going to take some give and take at times, we both understand that, but we will work very closely together and give everyone the best opportunity to get the success that we all want to see.”
McCullum also spoke glowingly of England's Test vice-captain Harry Brook, who will remain in his leadership with the ODI and T20 sides despite missing out on Test captaincy to Joe Root, who is set to resume the role this month.
“Everyone knows the affection that I have for Harry,” McCullum added. “He’s a wonderful player and he’s doing a fine job as white-ball leader. I think his time will come in the Test job.
“I’m looking forward to working with him and hopefully growing and developing him into the leader that he can become. At some stage in the future, he will have a very important role in that capacity. But for now, Joe will do an amazing job.”
