LONDON (AP) 鈥� England is not sacking anybody following the in Australia.
A by the England and Wales Cricket Board, announced within hours of the final match in January, was concluded on Monday. Firing people would 鈥渂e the easy thing to do,鈥� ECB chief executive Richard Gould said but he insisted, “This is not the time to throw everything out.”
Managing director Rob Key, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept their jobs after the best England side to go to Australia in 14 years with two games to spare.
鈥淢oving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That鈥檚 not the route that we鈥檙e going to take,鈥� Gould said. 鈥淚鈥檝e seen the driving ambition and determination that we鈥檙e lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.鈥�
Stokes in a post on Instagram and said the last three months were the hardest of his captaincy.
“Baz,Rob and myself have the passion and desire to take this team forward, we are going to give you everything we have, we know we made mistakes along the way and we have learnt from those mistakes, you learn more from failure than success,鈥� Stokes wrote. “I have got so much more to give to this role and I’m so happy that I get to do it with Baz and Rob.
鈥淏eing England captain … I do not take it for granted,鈥� he added. 鈥淚t has its highs and it has its lows, it makes you want to smile it makes you want to cry. It completely and utterly consumes you and feels like it鈥檚 the only thing in your life at times.鈥�
Gould previously was the chief executive of Bristol City soccer club and said the ECB would not follow the same route as soccer鈥檚 hire-and-fire culture.
鈥淐ricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership … it鈥檚 not like football where there鈥檚 a single point of failure or success with a manager,” he said. He added the ECB would not 鈥渟elect or deselect management based on a popularity campaign.鈥�
The main criticisms of England’s tour were poor preparation, , and selection mistakes.
At a press conference at Lord’s, Gould and Key said McCullum and Stokes have not had a 鈥渂ust up,鈥� they did not want McCullum to 鈥渃ompletely change鈥� but 鈥渢o evolve,鈥� the behavior of some players was 鈥渦nprofessional,鈥� there will be more consequences for underperforming, and a commitment to 鈥渂etter long-term planning鈥� ahead of major test series.
Some changes were already implemented for the Twenty20 World Cup, where England reached the semifinals. Gould implied that performance saved McCullum.
Key acknowledged that England supporters would be disappointed to see the management team go unpunished.
鈥淚 know people want punishment and that people then should be sacked for that,鈥� Key said. 鈥淭hat 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.鈥�
___
AP cricket:
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
