England batters not scarred by series loss ahead of Ashes, says Brendon McCullum

Brendon McCullum insisted England’s misfiring batters have not been scarred for the Ashes following a 3-0 one-day international series whitewash defeat by New Zealand.

England’s top three of Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett and Joe Root made a combined 58 runs in the series and the trio were dismissed for single figures in a two-wicket defeat in the Wellington dead rubber.

Unless injury strikes, they will be in England’s team for the first Test against Australia on November 21 in Perth and they have just one warm-up – a three-day affair against England Lions – to find form.

McCullum, though, reasoned the time they have spent in the middle and a switch of formats will serve them well after being asked whether his batters head across the Tasman Sea low on confidence.

“No I don’t envisage that,” England’s head coach said. “It’s a different form of the game and it’s a completely different kind of challenge that we’re going to be confronted with as well.

“Sometimes the process that you go through in regards to batting doesn’t necessarily translate to runs but the game can come in time. That’s what we’re holding on to, anyway.

“Jamie Smith, Joe Root and Ben Duckett, they’ll be better for the run, too. They’ve marked centre a few times and gone through the process.

“I’m sure they’ll be better for it with the prep that we’ve had with the other Test guys who’ve been here for a while, too, we’ll have no excuses come Australia.”

While England’s bid to gain some momentum in New Zealand fell flat, McCullum revealed he is itching to get going in Australia as his side attempt to claim back the urn for the first time in a decade.

“I’m proper excited,” he said. “We’re incredibly respectful of the challenge Australia is going to present us, we know how hard that tour is going to be.

“It’s going to require a team to stay together right throughout, to be as strong as we can to try and block out any of the outside noise. We can’t wait to get started.”

McCullum has now overseen 11 defeats in 15 ODIs since taking charge of the white-ball sides at the start of the year and automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup is not a certainty.

In New Zealand, where conditions have assisted fast bowlers especially early on, England have failed to find the correct tempo and still seem to be struggling with the ebbs and flows of the 50-over format.

“In Test cricket and T20, we’ve got our template and we understand how to play but in one-day cricket we’re still searching a little bit for that and we’ve got to improve pretty quickly,” McCullum said.

“We’ve got some talented players but unfortunately our performances at the moment in this form of the game aren’t quite up to scratch and we need to rectify that.”

Daryl Mitchell has been a standout batter for New Zealand, with two unbeaten fifties seeing them to victory in Mount Maunganui and Hamilton, and McCullum hopes England can learn from him.

“He laid the ball off when he wanted to and he attacked when he needed to,” McCullum added. “His tempo of how he played in tricky conditions was a great example of how we can improve in the one-day format.

“There are times when we do need to be a little braver and put some pressure on the bowlers. Then there are other times where we’ve got to adjust to their lengths and lines.

“Not necessarily in a high-risk way but just by being brave enough – whether that’s coming down the wicket or move around the crease – just get things going a little bit more.”