McCullum backs Pietersen after England dismissed for 131 in Perth
Brendon McCullum said he would task Kevin Pietersen with educating England’s batters after they were dismissed for 131 in the opening one-day international in Perth on Friday, a defeat by seven wickets.
The collapse prompted comparisons with last year’s first Ashes Test and raised concern about how England might cope with similarly fast, bouncy surfaces in the 50-over World Cup in southern Africa; the Wanderers in Johannesburg was cited as a relevant example. McCullum described the mentor role Pietersen has been performing since he was hired in the summer and signalled he would use Pietersen in the immediate post-match debrief.
“It all happened pretty quick,” England’s white-ball head coach told TNT Sports. “We weren’t quick enough to adapt to the conditions. We talked extensively leading into the game about the surface. It’s a bit like batting on a trampoline, there are certain shots that are very difficult to execute.”
McCullum added: “Overall we’re disappointed but there are some good lessons for us. If you look towards the World Cup in South Africa there’s going to be some pitches there that will test us from a bounce point of view. We need to be able to adapt to conditions a bit more, we need to scrap a bit more.
“KP has got such a nice manner about him. He sees his role to get the talent to perform on the world stage. His message will be measured but firm – adapting to conditions, what could we have done, trying to drive the ball on the up is not wise. Next time we hit a surface like this we have to try and work it better.”
England’s 50-over side arrived into the winter off the back of series wins over India and Sri Lanka, but have endured a poor start to the season with four defeats and just one dead-rubber victory during the recent tri-series in Pakistan. One notable selection change during that run has been the omission of leg-spinner Adil Rashid, England’s second highest ODI wicket-taker, in favour of Liam Dawson.
One-day captain Harry Brook said the decision to pick Dawson was driven by conditions and questioned whether the same reasoning would apply at Adelaide, a ground usually considered more batter-friendly. Brook said: “We knew that the surface here today was going to be seam-friendly and spin wasn’t going to play a massive part, hence why we went with Daws [who is] probably a better batter than Rash at the minute. That was the right decision in the end. Obviously we haven’t got the result that we wanted and Daws didn’t bowl.”
Pietersen will leave the Australia tour after Sunday’s second one-day international in Adelaide and is due to travel to India on Monday to speak at a YouTube conference; his next assignment with England is expected to be the ODIs in South Africa in January.