Brendon McCullum has defended England's off-field behaviour during the Ashes, and hit back at accusations of a drinking culture under his tenure, labelling the criticism the side have received as a "pile-on".
Speaking following England's T20I series-win in Sri Lanka, McCullum reiterated that his players didn't go "overboard at all" during the Ashes. "You have to be allowed to enjoy yourself as well," said McCullum. "I don't think the boys went overboard at all. In fact, I thought a lot of the pile-on for it was completely out of line.
"I mean, even in Noosa. Noosa is where people go to retire. There was a reason why we chose Noosa. It was being made out as this big stag-do place. It couldn't be further from that. If we wanted a stag do, we'd have gone to the Gold Coast.
Several England players were pictured drinking outside a bar during their mid-Ashes series break in Noosa. A video also emerged on social media of Ben Duckett seemingly intoxicated. Further criticism mounted after it was revealed following the final Test of the series that Harry Brook had been sanctioned for an altercation with a bouncer the night before the final ODI of England's pre-Ashes white-ball series in New Zealand.
"We care about these guys and we understand that they are still young," said McCullum. "And our job is to try and nurture them through it. It doesn't mean we're going to get everything right either. There's going to be times where we make mistakes. I'll make mistakes, they'll make mistakes, the environment will make mistakes. But we are trying to look after them. In the end, they're good at cricket, these lads. That's what their gift is. They're good at cricket. They're not the finished articles as people yet.
"They've got elements of maturity to still develop. That's what we're here to try and help them with."
Media coverage of Brook incident 'quite annoying'
McCullum also defended both Brook following his his sanctions in New Zealand, and the ECB's handling of the incident. The story was first reported in the press two months after the incident occurred, while it was revealed for the first time last week that Josh Tongue and Jacob Bethell had also faced disciplinary action. Brook issued a third public apology following England's win over Sri Lanka in the opening T20I of the series, admitting to lying to "protect his teammates" by telling the media no other players were present during the altercation.
Harry Brook: Captaincy sacking ‘played through my mind’ after New Zealand bouncer incident
"I don't think we need to release all of those findings every time something arises to the media," said McCullum. "Others will have their own opinions…The process was done internally at the ECB, which we were all a part of. The boys were under no uncertain terms of how we felt about it, but now our job is to support them.
"And, to be honest, I find it quite annoying that we keep going on and on about it, because these are young men who are under immense pressure and they've put their hand up for something they've been disciplined for, and piling onto them is not helpful for anyone."
Defending Brook against the criticism levied at him for the incident and its fall-out, McCullum said: "Brooky obviously was trying to protect his other players when he made that comment, I wasn't aware of that comment until I was told, because I don't read the media personally."
"I think he was quite keen to put his hand up when the information came that it was going to land in the media. He was hopeful that it had been dealt with internally, as we all were. "He is a strong leader, he's a young man, but he's got a very good head on his shoulders and I know people will say he's not that clever. I couldn't disagree with that more. He wears his intelligence lightly and he's a very strong leader, and he's someone that they play for in their dressing-room as well, and our job is to just keep looking after him because he is still young."
McCullum on England Test coach role: 'I'd like to finish what we started'
Following England's Ashes defeat, McCullum's role as Test head coach came under scrutiny following criticism of the perceived relaxed environment he presided over. Speaking after the Ashes, McCullum defended his methods and said that he was keen to remain as head coach depending on the changes implemented by the ECB's review into what went wrong during the series.
He doubled down on his intention to remain in charge of the Test side today. "Yes, I'd like to [continue as Test head coach], because I'd like to finish what we started."
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England made some changes behind the scenes in Sri Lanka, introducing a curfew and increasing the number of backroom staff accompanying the playing squad. Both changes appear in contrast to McCullum's normal approach to coaching.
"I think you guys need to work me out a little bit better, to be honest," said McCullum. "If you go back to the day that I walked into the job, the first thing I said to these boys is 'don't do anything that lands you on the front page of the paper' and 'nothing ever good happens after midnight'. The curfew is a different interpretation of those words that I mentioned three-and-a-half years ago.
"I think the misconception out there is that I run this loose ship, where I want everyone out on [the] piss all the time, having a great time, and don't give a hoot about cricket. It couldn't be further from the truth. I'm fiercely determined. I'm fiercely competitive."
England will being their T20 World Cup campaign against Nepal on February 8.
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