A new era in English cricket is about to begin. The Three Lions will wear a bit of New Zealand as they face the Kiwis in a three-match Test series, starting June 2. 

The team’s new coach, Brendon McCullum, has captained New Zealand and is one of the island country’s best batters. Skipper Ben Stokes was born in the Kiwi nation and moved to England at the age of 12. 

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The two came into the picture after England suffered a 4-0 Ashes defeat Down Under and then were beaten by the West Indies 1-0. Joe Root and co had won one out of their last 17 Tests. The 2019 World Cup champions are ninth on the Test Championship table. Any loss over the next year can hurt their chances of making it to the final of the tournament. 

McCullum retired from international cricket in 2019. He has coached the Kolkata Knight Riders and Trinbago Knight Riders. He was hailed as an attack-minded captain in his days. The 40-year-old led New Zealand to the 2015 World Cup final, which they lost against Australia. 

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England is hoping he brings the attacking attitude to their dressing room. 

“It takes time to play in that kind of fashion. We saw it with the white-ball side, how that transition took a little bit of time to adapt to it. That’s the exciting part of it … the way Ben plays his red-ball cricket and Bazza (McCullum) played his red-ball and white-ball cricket, I’m sure there will be things that rub off within the environment over the next few weeks, months and years,”  batter Jonny Bairstow said.

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Also called as Bazz, McCullum, has played 101 tests for New Zealand and scored 6,453 runs at an average of 38.64. He has 12 centuries and 31 fifties in the format. 

He hopes his outsider status as a New Zealander will help rid the under-performing team of their “fear of failure”. 

“I think the bubbles were difficult for them [England]. And when you lose one or two games that can snowball. I see guys who are maybe just a little bit struck by the fear of failure rather than the possibility of success. If we can do that, talent can come to the fore,” McCullum said at Lord’s on Friday. 

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“He is someone I have always wanted to work with,” Bairstow said of McCullum, “someone who I played against and — growing up watching him — someone I was very intrigued by and looked up to in many ways because of the way he went about his cricket.

“I’m very excited about the prospect of working with him, hopefully for a long period of time.”